Prince of Persia: Immortal rerelease
by Molon Labe
Summary: Alternative sequel to Warrior Within: The Prince and Kaileena return to Babylon to find it in ruins and occupied by a hostile force. Together with Farah, a Hebrew soldier, and a great prophet, the set about to right the Timeline once and for all.
1. Prologue

_As many of you probably remember, I released this story about 5 years ago, also in other forms as a pitch to Ubisoft for a plot to what would become The Two Thrones. Because of this, I was never completely satisfied with my story and figured I would give it another shot. This is the remake._

**Prologue**

Fire consumed the great city of Nebuchadnezzar. Yet again, Babylon had been sacked by a cruel enemy and her population slaughtered. Babylon was no stranger to such cruel events. The Hittites, The Assyrians, The Chaldeans: Three great empires that were not merely content to conquer and plunder the city, they ravaged the it, raped the women, massacred any man old enough to be a soldier, and burned everything in sight; all this in the name of showing might and ensuring obedience. However, the Persians had been different. The army of Cyrus entered the city without spilling a drop of blood, arrested the corrupt Babylonian king, Belshazzar, and declared the captive populations free to return to their homes. Under the Law of Medes and Persians, the people enjoyed a freedom they could never have imagined under previous civilizations. Sadly, the kindness that they had shown was not returned by this enemy.

The assault on the city was unexpected. A birthday celebration for the Persian king ended in a slaughter. Cheers and praises turned quickly into screams of pain and horror. Evil-looking, almost inhuman soldiers, unlike any soldier Babylon had seen, seemed to appear out of nowhere. An announcement by the king turned into a sickening gargle as a spear was thrust through his back. Even the Immortals, the king's elite soldiers and guardians, were unable to react to the appearance of enemies fast enough. Most were slaughtered within the first few seconds; the surviving Immortals attempted to rally and drive off the invaders, but were quickly cut down by the ruthless, quick moving enemies.

In the predawn hours, a cloaked figure strolled through the now blazing city of Babylon. The attack he led could not have gone any better. All resistance had either fled or been cut down. The city that he so hated was destroyed, and he now had control of everything. Suddenly, a golden crown rolled in front him and stopped at his feet. He bent down to pick up the symbol of royalty.

He chuckled evilly as he gazed at his sign of the Persian defeat.

"All that is yours is rightfully mine," he said in a dark, remorseless voice, "And mine it shall be."

His thoughts were interrupted by the loud protests of a woman tied to a wooden crossbeam.

"Let me go! Do you know who I am? If you did, you wouldn't dream of doing this! I am the daughter of the Indian Maharajah!"

The dark figure walked over to the captured girl. With his hard, callused hand, he took the chin of the angry, frightened captive. She was quite beautiful; high cheekbones, full lips, dark brown eyes, long jet-black hair, and medium tone skin darkened even more by the hot Babylonian sun. The cloaked one knew this girl, and he knew of her significance. He had not planned on her presence; it was just his good luck. The Persians' treaty with India had unwittingly condemned India's much-loved princess. The cloaked figure would use her as leverage against his targeted enemy. He released her face, which she turned away in fury, then motioned for her to be taken away, for he had more important matters of which to attend.

The figure strolled out of the city toward the Euphrates River and looked out to the brightening horizon. He smiled to himself though no one would have seen as a hood obscured his face.

"Now, I wait for you. Your death will make me complete."


	2. How it Began

**Chapter I: How it Began**

_Somewhere on the Euphrates River_

A beam of sunlight worked its way across the cabin till it crossed the face of the youngest son of the King of Persia. He slowly opened his eyes to the ever-expanding light. The Prince smiled to himself at the thought of not being hurried awake for fear of his life. It was the first time in seven years since he had anything to smile about; thus even a small pleasure such as this was enough to make him grateful for his life.

_A new life, _he thought_, Just days ago a thought I could not have imagined._ The Prince of Persia sat up and gazed at the sunlight as he pondered his future.

_Seven years wasted, but I have my revenge for that._

It was not that he had little life remaining; he was in his mid-twenties (though the scars on his face added at least five years) and in great physical shape. This was from the constant running and escapes from the great beast bent on The Prince's destruction for the disruption of the Timeline.

Seven years earlier, the Persian Army had invaded and conquered a western province of India. While plundering the Indian maharajah's treasures, the Persians came into possession of an enormous hourglass holding the Sands of Time: a strange substance that could control time itself.

At the palace of the satrap Azad, where the Persians were celebrating their victory, the Prince was tricked into opening the hourglass, releasing the Sands. The Sands corrupted and killed everything they touched, wiping out the entire palace population and the visiting Persian royalty, turning them all into ravenous sand creatures. Only the Prince, the captive daughter of the maharajah, and a handful of others were spared. Realizing what he had done, the Prince and the maharajah's daughter set out to undo his mistake, ultimately reaching the hourglass and using it to reverse time to just before the invasion of India. Thus, the war and the disaster were averted, but not for the Prince, for the hourglass had a curse upon it: Whoever shall open the Sands shall die. This should have happened immediately upon the release of the Sands, but the Prince had possessed the Dagger of Time, a mystical weapon the protected him from the Sands, thus allowing him to survive their release. Because of this, an alternative method of carrying out the death sentence was needed.

The Prince soon found himself being chased by a horrific demon known as the Dahaka, who was determined to see to it that the Prince fell to the curse. Night after night, it chased him, never letting up for an instant. The Prince had known no pleasure, no rest, no security, and no love for seven years. The sparkle that had once shown in his deep blue eyes disappeared. He put all his energy into cheating his fated death, though many times he wished for death. But finally, by pure accident, the Prince came upon a weapon with which to kill the Dahaka. After a fierce battle, the Prince was able to slay the monster. As the demonic creature fell into the water, the emotions vacant from the Prince's heart for the seven years of chase began to slowly seep into the void left by the sudden release of fear and desperation.

He now felt purpose, pride, the prospect of happiness, and love. He had also learned the consequences of selfishness, boastfulness, and self-glorification. No matter how powerful he became, he knew that there was One more powerful than him. He knew that he would have to put others first and remember, as his father always said though the Prince refused to listen, "An officer is commissioned by another, but leader must build himself. Do not let your position go to your head. Lead your men. Be one with them, and not on a higher level. Be the one who organizes and inspires, not the one who shouts orders and views his people as faceless drones."

A tired moan behind the Prince interrupted his thoughts. He turned around and looked into the face of the woman who lay beside him. She looked back at him and smiled. The Prince had seen her smile before, but not with the happiness she showed now.

The woman's name was Kaileena; to say that she was beautiful was an incredible understatement. She was mesmerizing. Her physical appearance suggested that she was about twenty-four to twenty-seven years of age. She had an hourglass figure and a perfectly shaped face framed by long, dark brown hair. Most stunning of all were her emerald-green eyes. Any unmarried man traveling the world who met her would likely beg for her hand. However, few had ever seen her, for although she appeared to be no more than a beautiful, young woman, she was much more.

Until leaving her island fortress, Kaileena was the Empress of Time; in truth, she was the root of all the strife that the Prince had encountered (Though the Prince now admitted that he had no one to blame but himself). No one knew how she came to be. Some Zoroastrian scholars said she was the guardian of time in the service of Ahura Mazda and the forces of good. Others said she was a great corrupter under the evil command of Spenta Angra, the spirit of evil. Still others taught that she was no more than a mortal woman, a sorceress who had created and harnessed The Sands of Time and thus she would never die of old age.

Empress Kaileena had feared only one thing: Her own fate. She had seen the Timeline and knew that she was destined to die by the hands of the Prince, who himself had been on a mission to defy his fate by killing her: The creator of the Sands. The Prince had reasoned that if the Sands were never created, he would never have opened them, and thus, would not be under the sentence of death. He had traveled two hundred years into the past, when the Empress was still alive. He met Kaileena locked in combat with Shahdee, the rebellious general of her army. Not knowing she was the Empress, the Prince intervened and saved Kaileena's life. However, when Kaileena had revealed herself as the Empress, she and the Prince battled and he killed her. But, by doing so, he inadvertently released the Sands of Time, allowing them to spill into the great hourglass. The Prince, with the help of a strange artifact known as the Mask of the Wraith, then determined that he would have to go back a few days earlier, before Kaileena died, and force her into the future, where the Sands would be released when she was killed, but would never fill the hourglass.

Once again, the Prince defied all odds and succeeded, luring Kaileena into his time. But when the time came to face her once again in battle, he could not bring himself to raise his sword against her. Instead, the Dahaka showed up and grabbed Kaileena, who was not supposed to be in this period of history. The Prince's battle was being fought for him, but for some reason, he stepped in and, once again, saved Kaileena's life by slaying the beast. After the battle, he could not figure out why he did what he did, rather than just letting her die. But a day later, sailing away with Kaileena from the ruins of what had been her prison and her home, he looked at her and realized why he had fought so hard for her: He had fallen in love with her.

The Prince, like any man, found her beautiful beyond imagination, but he had known many beautiful women, so there was more to his attraction than that. He found that, like him, years of pain had led to a dark, emotionless shell over Kaileena's personality, but that when it melted away, she was a warm, friendly, caring young woman. Through his struggle against her, he had found that the evil, remorseless picture he had of the Empress was wrong, and that she, like him, was a suffering soul, searching for meaning and affirmation; they had found this in each other. Unfortunately for him, she had no experience with physical affection and did not seem to yet embrace the idea of romance. Even now, she would hug him, rest her head on his shoulder, and sleep next to him for warmth on the boat, but when the Prince had confessed his feelings to her, she had only smiled, reddened a bit, and sank back, not saying anything. The Prince had mulled this over in his mind, asking himself if she did not love him, or if she did and did not know how to express it, or if she loved him, but not in a romantic way…much the way any young man in his position would. But the Prince had made up his mind: He would not arrange a marriage between them. He would let her decide if she wanted a relationship, and then after courtship, he would ask for her hand in marriage.

All these thoughts were going through the Prince's mind when Kaileena spoke, breaking the silence.

"How far do you think we are from Babylon?" She asked as she adjusted a wrinkle out of her long red tunic, which was beginning to feel uncomfortable, as she had not been able to change out of it for about five days.

"When I sailed to the Island of Time, it took about three days. And it's been about three since we left the island, so I'd guess probably later today. As the crow flies, it's a good four hours or so, but I have very little to mark how far it is. All I know is that we should be there pretty soon," he paused for a moment, "I've been thinking, I should talk to my father about putting markers or something on the side of this river. I mean, it's a long way, there's nothing to mark distance like I said…It would be great for…" he trailed off when he noticed that she was giggling.

"What's so funny, Kaileena?"

Kaileena rolled her eyes, "You. Since yesterday morning you've been rambling without pause."

"Well, I was explaining before you started laughing at me," The Prince replied, turning his back in mock hurt.

Kaileena sat up and hugged him.

"Get used to it, you're going to see me for the rest of your life," she said. The Prince turned to kiss her but she moved her head out of the way.

"Come on now," the Prince said with slight frustration. He had incredible feelings for her, but no matter what, she refused to show any affection beyond a playful embrace. He was afraid to say, "I love you" again, because he was worried that this time, she would answer and say that she did not love him in the same way.

"No, it…I feel too awkward," Kaileena answered shyly, "Not now."

The "not now" perked up the Prince's hopes a bit.

"When?" he asked, immediately regretting the almost sophomoric sounding question. He added a laugh to make it seem as though he was just joking. However, she just looked down again.

"I don't know, maybe I just don't have that kind of emotion in me," she answered quietly.

The Prince nodded, "I understand. I won't push you."

Kaileena smiled gratefully at him. Suddenly, she sniffed and stood up.

"Do you smell smoke?"

The Prince crinkled his nose at the air.

"Yes, that's smoke. We must be near Babylon," the Prince said excitedly jumping to his feet. He took Kaileena's hand and rushed out of the cabin, nearly dragging her to the ground. She regained her footing and quickly followed the Prince.

Up on deck, the Prince pointed up the river.

"Look, a plume of smoke! That's Babylon!"

Kaileena suddenly looked uneasy.

"Why is there so much smoke?"

"Oh, probably just a building on fire. It happens a lot in the tight quarters of that city." We'll probably hear about when we get there," the Prince said.

"How long do you think that will be now?" Kaileena asked.

"About three hours…" he said smiling, "Three hours till we begin our new life."


	3. The Prophet

**Chapter II: The Prophet**

After a quick breakfast, which consisted of a canteen of water and the last of the bread, the Prince and Kaileena changed into more comfortable clothing. Then they made their way to the bow of the ship. Kaileena was glad to be out of her Imperial tunic. For whatever reason, it was what was given to her when she took the position of Empress. However, she found it very restricting, and _way_ too open. No one would have guessed that she was actually quite prude due to the clothing she had to wear at her post. Now, she wore a much less revealing sleeveless shirt, much like that of a blade dancer, the Empress's elite martial artists (From whom she had collected the outfit), and loose fitting pants that would keep her cool in the desert heat.

The Prince looked at himself in a mirror that Kaileena brought and sniffed at his arm.

_How did I not poison Kaileena during this voyage?_ He thought disgustedly. He was usually very proper, being royalty, but over the past seven years, he had neither the time nor the concern to groom himself. Even baths were few and far between; usually once every few weeks. Even though they had possessed the means, the Prince was so out of habit of bathing that he did not take advantage of the perfumes and soaps that Kaileena had brought along. But now, he did not have his life on the line, and they were in fresh water, so he had no excuse.

"Let's pull the boat over; I need to bathe," the Prince said.

"Good idea," Kaileena agreed, "I think I'll do that too. You go on the portside, I'll go on starboard," she gave him a flirtatious smile, "And no looking at me."

"Aww, you sure you don't need help?" he joked.

"No, I'm quite capable," she said, grabbing what she needed.

"Alright. But I'll be here if you need anything."

About twenty minutes later, they were washed, redressed and ready to go. The Prince had also taken that time to cut his hair and trim his goatee. He looked about five years younger now. With this out of the way, they raised the anchor and sailed on.

"Amazing," the Prince remarked as they sailed through the seemingly endless desert "If it wasn't for this river, this land would be completely worthless."

"Fascinating," Kaileena replied.

"I imagine you've seen them all. Sargon, Hummarabi…even Nimrod! Tell me Kaileena, what were they like?"

"I never lived among the kings of this land," Kaileena said.

"I know, but you lived in their time. You could see their lives as they happened," the Prince said eagerly.

"I honestly never really thought about it," she replied, a bit distracted. The Prince gazed at her. It was then that he noticed that she looked very concerned.

"Something wrong, Kaileena?" he asked.

She took a deep breath before replying, "I had stood my post as Empress of Time since…I can't remember exactly."

"Right after the Flood?"

"No," she smiled and shook her head, "not _that_ early. That was quite a few thousand years before my time. But before the Persians…I think right around the time of Narum-Sin of Akkad. I remember being endowed with the powers of the Timeline, and being told my soul was now fused directly with it…the Timeline I mean."

"How did that come about?" The Prince asked.

"_That_ I don't know," She replied, looking down, "My memory before that was virtually erased. All I have are fragments of memories…people, places. I do know I was a child at one time. I became Empress at…well, I'm guessing when I was around twenty-four or twenty-five years of age…which is why I look to be about that old."

"So you aren't…well, like a daevai, or something of that nature?" the Prince was confused.

Kaileena laughed at this, "Me? A daeva? I couldn't be. No, I was—and I suspect I still am—fully human. However, the Empress is not."

"I don't understand," the Prince said, cocking his head a bit, like a dog seeking a confirmation that his owner really did want him to follow his command.

"The Empress of Time is infused with the Timeline. I don't know how she came about attaching herself to me, I don't know where I came from, and I don't know my fate," Kaileena felt like she was having a nervous breakdown, "That," she slammed her palm down on the edge of the boat, throwing up a thin cloud of sand and wood particles, "is what scares me."

"Well…we learned that we could change our fate, so I don't know how much of a difference that makes," the Prince reasoned, though not too sure of himself.

"No I mean what will happen to me in the larger scheme of things? What is the condition of my soul? Will I be able to be saved when I die and resurrected at the end of this age? Was my becoming the Empress an unforgivable sin, so I am going to be tormented after death? Does my soul exist anymore…I mean, will I even have life after death? What about the Empress? Do I still have that duty, or am I relieved? If I'm relieved, what becomes of time? Am I causing the end of the world as we know it…?" she was becoming hysterical. She felt like crying but could not seem to get herself to do so. She slid her back down the sidewall of the boat and sat on the deck. The Prince joined her. Giving up a great sigh, she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to put you through this. I'm just…well, terrified!"

"It's ok, I understand," the Prince said, stroking her long, dark brown hair, "I don't have the answers. But I know someone who does."

An hour later, they were just a few miles away from Babylon. The smoke seemed to have gone down a bit, so the Prince assumed that whatever was burning was put out. He and Kaileena sailed their boat to the east bank and tied it to a small dock, then disembarked into the desert. About half a mile later, they came upon a small tent. The once dark red fabric was now faded into a dull orange by the constant sandstorms and exposure to the elements. Walking around to the side, the Prince and Kaileena found that the flap was open. The Prince peered into the tent to see an old man on his knees in prayer. A few seconds later, the man raised his head and looked at the Prince standing in his doorway.

"God told me you would be arriving today, and with the Empress of Time," the old man stated calmly.

Upon hearing her former title, Kaileena stepped into the opening of the tent.

"Empress Kaileena, I presume," the man said to her.

"Yes, that is right. How did you know that?" she asked amazed.

"My God has revealed it to me," he replied.

"Who are you?" a now wide-eyed Kaileena asked.

The Prince stepped forward and held out his hand to the mysterious, wise man in front of them.

"Kaileena, may I present to you the great prophet, Daniel."

i In Ancient Zoroastrian thought, a daeva was a spiritual being that usually worked for evil


	4. The Many Paths of Fate

**Chapter III: The Many Paths of Fate**

_In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus. _Daniel 1:20-21 (NIV)

Kaileena's jaw dropped when she heard the name of the man standing in front of her.

"The chief adviser to King Nebuchadnezzar, the prophet who foretold the rise of the Persian Empire, the right-hand man of the Babylonian satrapee, survivor of the Lions' Den, spokesman for the God of Israel, and my mentor" the Prince announced.

"My lord, it is an honor to finally meet you" Kaileena said as she dropped to her knees, "I had a copy of your book in my library," She knew that Daniel, who was guided directly by the God of Israel, held more power and more influence than any man on earth. And yet, he chose to live a simple life as a servant.

"Stand up, Empress, I am not God, but merely his spokesman," Daniel said to her.

Kaileena rose to her feet.

"You want to know the condition of your soul?"

"Yes," she replied, worried that she would not like the answer. Prophets told the truth, not always what people wanted to hear.

"On the day that you removed the last Empress from power, you said, 'I will be like a god.' You then promised mercy on the former Empress, then had her murdered in much the same way the great Hebrew king, David, did to Uriah the Hittite."  
"The _former_ Empress?" the Prince said.

"The one Kaileena overthrew to take the throne…one of the surviving daughters of the nephalim…the one who looked to reclaim her throne to her dying day."

"I don't remember this," Kaileena said, "All I know is that I had begged God for a thousand years to set me free, but he had not listened to me. I knew that there would be an end of age, and I did not know my fate when it came."

"God accepts all who truly repent. But there must be atonement. There must be a spotless lamb to sacrifice," Daniel replied.

"So, am I forgiven?" Kaileena asked, "I mean, do I have a chance at resurrection?"

"That is between you and the Lord. You saw your fate in the Timeline and said that this was more than you could bear. Yet, you kept on seeking power for yourself, trying to find a way to save your own life, regardless of who had to die in the process," Daniel said, "I do not mean to condemn you, but it is the truth."

The Prince then stepped in, "I did the same thing, though…that's why we're here now," he hung his head, "If anyone deserves to be punished, it is I. I went to murder her…she simply was defending herself," the Prince was suddenly very angry with himself, "All of this is my doing. Because of my actions in Azad, as well as those on the Island, I have caused others to fall, I have killed innocents…If she has any sins, ask God to punish me instead."

"Ah, my dear young friends," Daniel said, his voice more gentle now as a smile began creeping over his face, "you did not let me finish."

The Prince and Kaileena quieted down quickly, like two children reprimanded by their father.

"My Prince, you used to love the story from the Torah I always told you, the one about Joseph and his brothers."

"Yes, that one was one of my favorites," the Prince remembered sitting on the plush pillows of his room as Daniel tutored him from the Hebrew Scriptures.

"Do you remember what Joseph said after their father died, and they were worried that he would now take revenge on them? He said to them, 'Do not worry. You intended evil, but God used it for good. Kaileena, God sought to rescue you from your bondage. At the same time, the Dahaka, who is not of heaven, was ruling the Timeline without authorization. To show His greatness, He worked through you, My Prince, to both set Kaileena free, and to slay that demon and send him back into the abyss."

"So, I'm…free?" Kaileena could not believe it. After these thousands of years, she truly _had_ changed the Timeline.

"You are no longer Empress. Your sins have been forgiven and so long as you honor the Lord above all others, you will be not be left to the jaws of death."

So, it was settled, the Prince thought to himself. However, he still had a nagging question on his mind.

"Daniel, you told me I could not change my fate and that my journey would not end well. Were you speaking from your opinion or from what was revealed to you?" The Prince asked.

A solemn look spread over the old prophet's face.

"Kaileena, will you let us speak in private for a moment?" he requested.

"I'll be waiting outside," she said to the Prince. Before she left, her eyes fixated on a scroll; it was a copy of the book of annuals from the reign of the Babylonians.

"Daniel, may I read that while I'm waiting?" she asked politely.

"You may," he answered, "Although I doubt that you will find anything interesting."

Kaileena picked up the book and smiled, "You'd be surprised at how boring I can be." With that, she exited the tent.

"With the curse of the Timeline gone, she is quite pleasant.," Daniel commented to the Prince about Kaileena.

"Yes, she certainly is," the Prince sighed and shook his head in frustration, "I love her, Daniel, but I don't know if she loves me."

"Nor has that been revealed to me," Daniel replied.

"This is torturous; almost worse than the Dahaka….but getting back to my question…" the Prince began.

"My Prince you did not change your fate," Daniel answered.

"But I destroyed the Dahaka and prevented my death."

"'Prevented your death?' Ha!" the prophet scoffed, "no man can prevent his death. It is part of the curse brought on by sin. Someday, as foretold by Isaiah, there will be no more death upon the Earth, but until that day, nothing you can do will change that."

"I know that, but why didn't you just say that to me?"

"Would it have stopped you from going to the Island?" Daniel asked.

"No."

"The reason I said what I said was that you were trying to take control of things of which you had no business. Also, had I told straight out what was going to happen, you would have failed, because you would have been careless, thinking that you did not have to put in any effort to your quest.

"To die by the Dahaka, or by any means, is not fate. You were deceived, as was Kaileena, that what you had seen was your fate. You both saw what would happen should your courses of life remain unaltered."

Now it all made sense. Fate was that which was in store for you that, because you could not know, was inevitably going to happen unless you changed the course of your life. However, there was one more thing, something Daniel had not answered.

"But you said one other thing. You said that my journey would not end well, and it seems that it has," the Prince said with a very slight tone of defiance in his voice.

Daniel lowered his head.

"You have not visited Babylon yet?" he asked.

"No, why?"

"Three nights ago, it was sacked and burned," Daniel said mournfully.


	5. A Return to Ruin

_No reviews yet :(. I'm hoping some of you, maybe old PoP fans, like this. Anyway, hope to hear some feedback from some of you._

**Chapter IV: A Return to Ruin**

The Prince burst from the tent and ran toward Kaileena, who had her nose buried in the book she had borrowed.

"We have to get back to the boat, there's trouble in Babylon," the Prince said, breathing heavily.

"What?" a startled Kaileena asked.

"Let's go!" the Prince said urgently.

The two of them ran full speed back to the boat, but the half-mile to the dock felt like seven miles. Finally, they came upon the boat. Panting heavily, they jumped in. The Prince opened the sails while Kaileena untied the boat from the dock. A moment later, the ship began to move slowly forward.

"Come on, move it!" the Prince shouted with frustration at the boat.

As the vessel picked up speed, the Prince calmed down a bit. Doing so required a lot of effort. As luck would have it, the wind was blowing north, allowing the ship to make good time. They would arrive at the docks of Babylon in about an hour. During that time, not much was said by either the Prince or Kaileena as they thought of the possible dangers they would face and wondered who could be behind the attack on the great city. Finally, about five minutes from arrival the Prince broke the silence.

"Perhaps this has nothing to do with us. The Chaldeans may have staged a revolt."

"Perhaps, but something tells me that's not true," Kaileena replied, "Burned to the ground? What mortal army could be raised quick enough and march fast enough that they would still have the manpower to take the one of the largest cities in the Empire?"

"This explains the smoke I saw earlier," the Prince commented with almost no emotion. Would his troubles never end?

After a long pause, Kaileena walked down to the cabin. She returned about ten seconds later with her and the Prince's weapons. She dropped them on the deck at her feet. The Prince then walked over and picked up his weapon of choice: The fabled Water Sword. With about a thirty-inch long and four-inch wide blade, the Water Sword looked like it weighed too much to be used by a man like the Prince who relied on speed and skill to be effective in battle as opposed to brute strength. However, it was not made of normal steel. When one looked close, it looked as though it were made of solid water. Not ice, and not liquid, but something entirely different. Thus, it weighed only about two and a half pounds, which allowed the Prince to swing and stab at amazing speeds. Not only was the sword light and strong, it was endowed with the powers of the Timeline, making the blade enchanted. Indeed, this was the only sword that could defeat the Dahaka and thus, would do immeasurable amounts of damage to common Sand enemies.

The Prince began to swing the sword around in order to loosen up his arm for the probable combat he would face in the next few minutes. Kaileena too warmed up to fight with her weapons, twin hand talons. They were relatively light and designed for slashing rather than stabbing. This was good for a fighter such as Kaileena, who used many swift, sweeping movements when she attacked. The Prince knew he did not have to worry about protecting Kaileena; she was a superb warrior herself and more than capable of defeating anyone who attacked her.

As much as the Prince tried to mentally prepare himself for the sight of Babylon, he was shocked at its destruction as he stepped off the boat. Buildings were badly damaged, and some were completely leveled. Bodies lay strewn about the streets, many as scorched as the buildings and others dismembered. Whoever had attacked the city made no distinction of their victims; men, women, children, and the elderly were all subject to the same gruesome fate.

"They say the Assyrians did this about four hundred years ago. Bodies blocked the streets…" the Prince trailed off, his words caught in his throat.

"This is not the work of the Assyrians."

"I know that, they were destroyed over a hundred years ago, I'm just saying…"

"No, I mean…look," Kaileena pointed one of her talons to the remains of a woman lying on the ground. Around the woman's neck was a golden, gem-studded necklace.

"Any normal army would have taken anything of value and that certainly includes this. Whoever did this was specifically on a mission of destruction."

"Even on a mission of destruction they would have taken plunder. What kind of soldier would do such a thing?" the Prince asked somewhat rhetorically.

Kaileena lowered her head as she answered, "my royal guardians."

"What?" The answer made no sense to the Prince. He had destroyed all of the soldiers on the Island of Time.

"They took no pleasure and cared for no possessions. When sent to battle, they would destroy the enemy and expect nothing for their services. If they were killed, as you know, they would dissolve back into the Timeline and leave no physical body.

"Look, Persian soldiers' corpses are everywhere, but there is no sign of an enemy. There are some well-trained soldiers and commanders in this world, but no one could carry out an attack of this magnitude without sustaining casualties," Kaileena said.

"Why would they attack Babylon?" The Prince asked.

"They are under the command of someone else, probably out to destroy you and I. The question is who?"

Suddenly, Kaileena's fears were confirmed as three keepers, the Empress's prison guards, suddenly charged toward the Prince and her. The keepers appeared fearsome, as the protective masks they wore resembled demon skulls, but they were armed with only the simplest, cheapest weapons and minimal armor and their training was basic as best. The first keeper reached Kaileena swinging his spiked club. Kaileena easily blocked it with her left talon. She then stabbed her right talon into the keeper's abdomen while bringing up her other talon and stabbing it into the back of his neck. The keeper was dead before he hit the ground. While this was happening, the two other keepers had reached the Prince. The Prince darted to the keeper on his left simultaneously knocking his sword aside and vaulting over his head. The Prince spun around in mid-air slashing his sword in a long diagonal swipe. The razor-sharp Water Sword completely cut the two keepers in half. To the Prince's surprise, spattering from the two dead foes was not blood, but a shining, gold substance, which suddenly collected into a ball and was sucked into the talisman that hung around the Prince's neck.

"The Sands of Time. This is impossible, you never created them," the Prince said to Kaileena.

"I had begun collecting the sands right before you arrived. Which means either I had created them earlier or they always existed. I don't know, I cannot remember," Kaileena said, obviously confused.

The Prince suddenly picked up the sword of one of the fallen keepers.

"Kaileena, duck," he said calmly.

Without thinking, Kaileena bent down. The Prince threw the sword over her head and into the chest of another charging keeper. The soldier was thrown back by the impact of the sword.

"Well, you seem at peak performance when it comes to your reaction and battle skills. Thank God for that," the Prince pointed out, putting the Water Sword back in its sheath, "Now, we'd better see how many survivors are here."

The Prince moved forward in a cautious speed-walk keeping a close eye for any ambushes. Without even having to be told, Kaileena followed about ten feet behind and about eight feet to the left of the Prince as to be less vulnerable to an attack by archers. About one hundred yards in front of them, a wall of rubble blocked their path. The Prince moved swiftly to the foot of the rubble and looked up, hoping to find a few platforms that he could use to climb.

"Can you get over it?" Kaileena asked walking up beside him.

"I think so. You see that ledge right there? If I can get up there, I can get to the larger, more stable pieces of rock," the Prince said.

With that, he took a step back, and then ran up the pile of loose rubble. However, the sand and rock fragments were not solid enough and all he managed to do was kick a bunch of dust behind him before slipping and tumbling back down to the bottom.

"Ouch! Damn it!" the Prince cursed.

Kaileena laughed, "Are you hurt?"

"Just my pride," the Prince grumbled, "How about you try it? You can teleport anyway."

Kaileena frowned, "Not anymore I can't."

The Prince sighed in frustration as he got to his feet, "Alright then, regardless, we need to get over this pile of rubble. How about I hoist you up and then you help me?"

Kaileena looked a little uncertain, "I'm pretty strong, but I'm not sure if I can lift you. But, I don't have any better ideas, so let's give it a try."

The Prince dropped to one knee and cupped his hands. Kaileena stepped her right foot into his hand and pushed off up toward the ledge. She then hoisted herself up onto the rock, turned toward the Prince, hooked the toes of her boots onto the backside of the rock, and reached her hand down to the Prince. He grabbed it and pulled his way up.

"Nice work," the Prince commented.

"Thank you," Kaileena replied.

With that, they continued up to the next rock, repeating the process. Soon, the rubble became more stable and they were able to climb without help. Once at the top, the Prince jumped to a pole in front of him and swung on it to a windowsill of a scorched house. He then climbed into the ruined house and turned back to see if Kaileena would repeat his action.

"I don't think I can do that," Kaileena called to him, "Wait…" she disappeared down the rubble for a moment and returned with a rope, which she then threw to the Prince. He grabbed the end of it and held it taut. Kaileena then jumped and swung to the side of the house. She kicked her feet out in front of her and stopped herself as she reached the side.

"Alright, pull me up," she yelled to the Prince.

The Prince began to pull Kaileena up to the window, but suddenly the rope snapped and Kaileena fell back to ground. Luckily, the fall was only about five feet, so she was unhurt.

"Stay there, I'll come down to you," the Prince yelled.


	6. Malachi

**Chapter V: Malachi**

The Prince took off out of the room, jumping over a large hole in the floor and sliding down a poll. As he reached the bottom, two raiders, well trained, light-armored swordsmen, rushed at the Prince.

"I remember him! He's dead this time!" one of the raiders yelled.

The Prince slashed directly from the scabbard, cutting one of the raiders in half. The second raider swung his sword, but was blocked by the Prince who delivered a swift kick to his stomach. The Prince then drove his sword into the back of the masked swordsman. With his two foes vanquished, the Prince drove on, but he stopped when he heard a seductive voice above him.

"You didn't forget about us, did you?"

Suddenly, the source of the voice, a blade dancer, dropped from the rafters above the Prince; a second dancer followed her. These female warriors were swift, skilled in martial arts, but lightly armored. The Prince swung his sword at one of the blade dancers and hit nothing but air. Before he was able to recover, the other blade dancer jumped onto his back and brought her dagger toward the Prince's throat. However, he quickly threw her off his back and brought her down hard. Before she was able to get up, he drove his sword into her chest. Just then, the other dancer flipped toward him. The Prince picked up the dagger of the fallen blade dancer and threw it toward the attacking one. She made a jump-split and the dagger flew harmlessly under her.

"Ok, enough is enough," the Prince growled.

With that, he tapped the talisman in his breastplate, invoking the Eye of the Storm. Everything around him slowed down, including his pesky foe. She tried to jump over him, but appeared to be moving in slow motion. The Prince, not affected by the slowing of time, quickly cut the blade dancer in half. As time sped up to normal, the Prince ran toward a huge gap. He was about to drop to the ground floor, but right below him, there was a huge hole, adding about twenty more feet to the drop.

"Whoa, I don't want to do that," the Prince said aloud.

He then noticed that if he ran out about thirty feet, he would be able to avoid the hole. One of the things taught in the Immortals' training school was how to be quick on your feet. It was discovered by some of the founding members of the elite unit that if you move your feet fast enough you could run a good distance across a wall before gravity took effect. After getting up some speed, the Prince stepped up onto the burnt wooden wall. After running a safe distance past the hole, he dropped eight feet to the floor below.

The Prince was immediately confronted by three raiders and an executioner, a better-armored, more highly trained raider and one charged with carrying out sentences handed down by the Empress.

"Alright then, bring it on," he said to his attackers; they did just that.

He vaulted over a raider just as the executioner was swinging his heavy axe in a deadly, vertical swipe. Unfortunately for the raider, the executioner was unable to stop his axe before cutting his companion completely in half. The Prince then easily dispatched the remaining two raiders with quick slashes to the chest and throat. The Prince slashed at the executioner who seemed to be unaware of the attack. However, he quickly blocked the Water Sword with his heavy battle-axe, which the strong executioner wielded like a toy. The Prince then tried again to kill the executioner with an overhead slash, which was again blocked. The Water Sword, usually rigid, wobbled as it rebounded from the strike. The Prince then attempted to vault over his enemy but was kicked to the ground. Quickly, he rolled out of the way of the deadly warrior's axe swing and got to his feet. He was about to attack again when a sharp blade penetrated into the executioner's back and through his chest. Kaileena then pulled the hand talon out of the executioner's body as he fell to the ground.

"Miss me?" Kaileena smiled mischievously.

"Dearly," The Prince replied, "How'd you get in here anyway?"

"Through the front door. You didn't have to go through the window evidently. I just walked down that pile of rubble and into the house."

"Well, my way was a bit more impressive, don't you think?"

"Maybe, although I made a pretty good appearance, huh?" Kaileena teasingly ran her hand through her long brown hair.

In the past three days on the boat he had seen her go from dark and unhappy to friendly and charming. But in the past twenty-five minutes, Kaileena had even taken that up a level. This was awfully familiar behavior to The Prince. Something that brought back memories from seven years earlier…

"You know, in some ways, you remind me of Farah," then he chuckled, and shook his head, "wait, you wouldn't remember her."

"No, I can't remember my own past, I know about what happened to you though," she said looking a little jealous.

The Prince shot her a look.

"Do you have any idea how little sense that makes?"  
"I've done my best not to analyze it," she replied as they began walking toward the front door of the building, "What made you think of Farah?"

"Your remarks: Very teasing, mischievous, and that's all I got from her. I actually liked that about her," the Prince looked at Kaileena who frowned disapprovingly at him, "And I like that you have taken it up. I mean, it's always good to keep a grim situation somewhat lighthearted…that's all. Why do you ask?"

"I was just curious," she replied, "Are you still in love with her?"

The Prince smiled, "No. We were together for that one adventure, that's all. I liked her well enough, but looking back, I don't think I was ever truly in love with her."

Suddenly, the yells of a warrior echoed from somewhere around the corner. Without a word, they took off toward the sound. They found a strong but tired looking young man fighting off a group of raiders. Judged by the blood around the battle, the soldier had been fighting, quite successfully, for some time but was now beginning to get overwhelmed. The Prince and Kaileena rushed to the aid of this skilled fighter. The Prince noticed on the man's tattered blue dress uniform was pinned the golden emblem of a lion gripping a spear in one paw and a sword in the other: The same pin the Prince had earned eight years earlier after six months of brutal training. The soldier was an Immortal, which, for the Prince, made saving this young man an even greater priority. The Prince vaulted over a raider and decapitated him on the way down. At the same time, another raider slashed at Kaileena, who jumped back out of the path of the sword. She immediately made a right hand slash, cutting off the Raider's head. A second raider attempted to attack her with the same gruesome results of the first one.

"Thank goodness I didn't charge you raiders as my personal guardians," Kaileena mocked.

The final remaining raider was distracted from his fight with the Immortal by Kaileena's comment. The slight hesitation caused the Raider his life as the Immortal sliced his long, razor-sharp scimitar through the Raider's upper body. He quickly sheathed his sword and turned to his two rescuers.

"Thank you for that. I would have been dead if you hadn't come along," the elite soldier said, breathing hard.

"Don't mention it," the Prince replied humbly.

After regaining his breath, the soldier introduced himself.

"The name's Malachi, Century Sergeant, Second Immortals Division. My unit was tasked with guarding the King when this attack happened. They overwhelmed us, by the time we were able to rally, it was too late. Only three of us survived and escaped. The other two are dead now. I've been wandering the streets trying to find a friendly face for three days. How about you?"

"I am the youngest son of the King of Persia, and this is Kaileena" the Prince told him.

Malachi knew immediately of the Prince's rank, "Well, I guess that makes you my commander," he crossed his right arm over his chest in a salute. The Prince saluted back. "What happened to you? We heard you died at sea," Malachi asked.

"_Almost_ died at sea, I was on a…solo mission of sorts which is why I disappeared. Who was my replacement?"

"Someone named 'Ishaad,' a bureaucrat who didn't even go through the school. All I know is that he was probably killed in the attack, as was everyone who was in the immediate vicinity of the King."

The Prince's eyes widened in horror, "My father was here during the attack?"

"Yes…uh, that's why I'm here," Malachi said with some insubordination.

"Was he killed?" the Prince suddenly felt a knot in his stomach.  
"I was patrolling the perimeter with my squad at the time so I didn't…" Malachi stalled but the Prince interrupted.

"Damn it! Answer my question! Did the King survive or not?"

Malachi looked at the ground.

I'm sorry, Prince, you're father was killed."


	7. The Story That Never Happened

_Two more chapters up!_

**Chapter VI: The Story that Never Happened**

The Prince bowed his head in sorrow. Kaileena put her arm around his shoulders in sympathy.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"I feel partly responsible as I was part of his guard detail," Malachi said, feeling the weight of guilt that he had not done more.

"You said you were on patrol at the time?" the Prince asked.

"Yes, around the parameter of the party. When we heard the screams, we rushed in…straight into an ambush," Malachi recalled.

"Do not feel guilty, you did what you could, Malachi," the Prince did not hold any ill will toward those who could not protect his father; he knew it was futile and pointless. He did, however, feel guilty himself.

"If only I had been a better son. I never saw how much he loved me. I was more than just a member of the royal family, I truly was his son…and I treated him with contempt," the Prince desperately tried to hold back his tears of grief and guilt.

"You cannot blame yourself for this," Kaileena said, "You loved your father and he knew that…I'm sure of it. Forgive yourself, but not for his death, you had nothing to do with that."

"No," the Prince took a deep breath, "Obviously I had everything to do with it."

"With all due respect, sir," Malachi said, "what's done is done. Our task is now to find out who is behind this."

As hard as it was, the Prince knew Malachi was right. The only thing that mattered now was finding out who was responsible for releasing Kaileena's minions upon the people of Babylon.

"This is the second time I have lost my father. I cannot undo his death this time though," the Prince recalled his release of the Sands of Time from the Hourglass.

Malachi looked confused, "What are you talking about?"

The Prince decided that this was as good a time as any to tell Malachi his story, "Most people think time is like a river, flowing swiftly in one direction. But I have seen the face of time, and I can tell you: They are wrong. Time is like the ocean in a storm."

Malachi laughed at the melodramatics, "Okay, good introduction, master poet. What does that mean?"

The Prince forced a grin at the remark and continued, "Seven and a half years ago on our way to inspect our holdings in Azad, my father, brothers and I decided to scout India as a possible expansion point for the empire, through war or negotiation. The Maharajah's vizier approached my father and coaxed him into attacking by agreeing to betray his master and open the gates of the city to the Persian army. Upon arriving at the city, the Immortals, under my command, executed a raid against the Maharajah's palace. In under an hour, we held…"

"Wait, wait, wait, what are you talking about? I've been with the Immortals for nine years and I don't remember ever invading India," Malachi protested angrily, "Yes, I remember scouting the land, but then we turned back.

"I thought something was up. I was right: You're not an Immortal and you're certainly not The Prince, just a liar and from the sound of it, a coward! You're just trying to give a reason why YOU weren't there to protect the King!" He pointed to the lion pin on The Prince's shirt, "Get that thing off your chest before I rip it off and shove up your ass!"

Kaileena's green eyes flashed in anger, "How dare you speak that way! It is enough to interrupt your superior officer but to accuse him of lying and cowardice," she held one of her hand talons to Malachi's throat, "I ought to cut your throat right here, you traitor!"

Malachi drew the shorter sword in his belt and knocked the talon away and immediately took up a fighting stance.

"Stop this now!" the Prince ordered. He then turned to Malachi with a look of irritation, "She's right though, if you hadn't interrupted me, you would understand.

"I am a Prince and your commanding officer and I went through and passed Immortal School. Now stand down, soldier, and listen to me."

"Yeah, well, you tell her to do it first," Malachi said childishly.

"Kaileena," the Prince said without turning around.

The beautiful warrior lowered her weapons reluctantly. At the same time, Malachi sheathed his sword, "What was your class number?" he asked.

"Thirty two," the Prince answered without hesitation. An Immortal would _never_ forget his class, "What was yours?"

"Twenty eight, but I hurt my leg and was rolled back to Thirty One and graduated with them. You must have had Faraj for the mountain phase instructor then."

The Prince smiled as Malachi, "Faraj was at the swordsmanship phase in Thirty two. He was at the mountain phase in _Twenty nine_."

Malachi backed down. This man had passed all the vetting tests of a true Immortal, but the Prince? He was not sure about that yet. He sat and listened as the Prince continued the story.

"Alright, where was I? Oh yes, we carried out a raid on the palace and we were able to open the door for the rest of the army. While this was going on, I had a mission of my own: to retrieve the Dagger of Time," the Prince paused to see if anything he had said was making sense to Malachi.

"The Dagger of Time? That was some kind of mystical artifact that you could use to freeze time and travel to the past, right?" Malachi said, still not quite believing the Prince's story.

"Yes, that's the one. I managed to get a hold of it and, just like the legend said, I was able to hold and manipulate the Sands of Time. We then were invited to the palace of Azad to celebrate our victory over India. However, the Maharajah's vizier…" the Prince paused and rubbed his chin, "well, to make a long story short, he tricked me into unleashing the Sands from the hourglass that held them."

"Go on," Malachi said. While not believing the Prince, Malachi did, however, find the story interesting.

"The Sands corrupt anything they touch. They turn people and animals into lifeless creatures bent on destroying everything in their path. Only a handful of people actually survived the initial release of the sands. Most of those were killed off soon thereafter. Pretty soon the only survivors were myself and the Maharajah's daughter, who had been taken as a slave."

Malachi smiled, "and I'm guessing…" he shook his finger at Kaileena trying to recall her name.

"Kaileena," she said.

"Yes, Kaileena, here is the Maharajah's daughter. Am I right?"

Kaileena forced a fake smile and rolled her eyes.

"No, I am not the Maharajah's daughter," she said as she tied her hair back to keep it out of the way during combat, "Now, Immortal, are you going to listen or not?"  
Malachi shot her a venomous look, "I was being sarcastic; I've met the Maharajah's daughter."

"As I was saying, the only two survivors now were the Maharajah's daughter and myself. Well, we spent the next day running through the fortress of Azad, dodging sand creatures, booby traps, and other things to get back to the hourglass and replace the Sands. We managed to do that, making another long story short, and by replacing the sands, we reversed everything that had happened, including the invasion of India."

The Prince spent the next twenty-five minutes explaining what happened after that; how his disrupting the Timeline released the Dahaka to come and kill him, how he traveled to the Island of Time, met Kaileena, and finally defeated the Dahaka. All the while, Malachi was intrigued but frightened. Once the Prince was finished, Malachi made his decision.

"I don't know who you two are or what you want. But obviously, you don't want me around or else you wouldn't be rambling on with such nonsense," he then turned to Kaileena, "And you wouldn't be trying to kill me."

Kaileena folded her arms and gave Malachi a cold stare.

"Listen, Malachi, we're part of the Brotherhood," the Prince said, placing his hand on Malachi's shoulder, "Stick to the code, Immortal."

Malachi brushed off the Prince's hand.

"You need my help with what? I don't know what you are even trying to do. Look, I don't know how you know about the School and the instructors; maybe you have inside information. But, for all I know, you're one of THEM and you are about to kill me!"

"Then perhaps you will believe my word," Daniel said as he road his horse around a corner.


	8. Objectives for the Mission

Chapter VII: Objectives for the Mission

"Daniel," Malachi bowed his head in respect.

"As surely as God lives, Malachi, the Prince speaks truth," Daniel said.

Malachi's eyes widened as he looked at the Prince, then Kaileena, who folded her arms and grinned triumphantly, and then at the old prophet.

"My Prince, forgive me," he said saluting across the chest once again, "Uh…I…"

The Prince saluted back indicating he was forgiven, "It's alright, soldier, I won't have you written up. This is a lot to take in. Plus, I also have discovered many false claims to Immortal status. You can never be too sure," He then turned to Daniel, "What exactly has happened here, Daniel? It seems as though Kaileena's former minions are responsible for this. But under whose command, and why?"

"Your slaying of the Dahaka has created a tear in the Timeline, releasing a foe who seeks to destroy you for what you have done to him," Daniel said mournfully.

"Who is it?" the Prince said with growing anger at his unnamed nemesis.

"The Lord has not yet revealed that to me. All I was told is that a foe, an evil being, has a score to settle with you for betraying him and is intent on destroying all that you hold dear," Daniel replied.

The Prince lowered his head, "I truly am the architect of my destruction," he then turned to Daniel, "Why has God done this? Ever since I was a child I worshiped your God alone. I have done wrong, but I have begged for forgiveness. Why am I continually punished?"

"You are forgiven, but your actions have consequences. You know this to be true. While the future is not set, some of the possibilities are, shall we say, messier than others. The slaying of the Dahaka has released you from your sentence of death, as well as given you an alternative to killing Kaileena, but it has resulted in this," Daniel hobbled down to the Prince and placed his hands on the his shoulders, "You have two choices: You can cry out your frustration or you can do what needs to be done and destroy the evil that has been released."

"We've done it once, and we can do it again," Kaileena chimed in walking towards the Prince and Daniel.

The Prince turned away and dropped to his knee, thinking.

"This doesn't make sense. Kaileena never created the Sands, how could this have happened?"

"The Sands were created eons ago, on the first day of creation, millions of years before the Empress existed. You did not stop their creation; you only stopped Kaileena from collecting them into the hourglass by preventing her death. The Sands of Time will always exist, as long as there is time."

The Prince turned to Daniel, his look of confusion and frustration now replaced with a look of determination.

"I suppose none of this makes any difference now. How do we defeat this enemy?"

Daniel looked sternly on the young warriors, like a general inspecting his troops, "You must defeat the one who did this, for you and he cannot both exist. When he is destroyed, you will have peace."

The Prince looked at Daniel in disbelief.

"No time travel? No hourglass?" the Prince shook his head, "It can not be, it's just way too simple."

"Do not underestimate what you must do," Daniel cautioned, "Your enemy is more determined than ever to destroy you. You will face fighters and tactics you have never seen before. And there is more, yet to be revealed, that will stand in your way of completing your task."

"I will do whatever needs to be done," the Prince said confidently.

"As will I," Kaileena promised. The three then turned to Malachi, who smiled at them.

"I didn't come all the way from Jerusalem to watch everyone else have all the fun," he said.

"Go then, and trust the Lord your God. But first, I must speak to you alone, Prince."

The two walked out of earshot of Kaileena and Malachi.

"My Prince, as long you trust Kaileena, you will succeed. The Lord has revealed that if you send her away that one of you will die and your mission will fail. It is through her that you will learn that the Timeline has been repaired. Currently, there is a rift, created by the spirit of the Empress herself, which is why Kaileena cannot recall how she became Empress. When time flows correctly again, all will be complete."

The Prince helped Daniel mount the large, powerful, animal.

"May God protect you, Daniel," the Prince said.

"Whatever happens to me is in His hands," the old prophet replied, "Now, go, my Prince."

"Wait, Daniel," The Prince stopped him before he left, "Kaileena and I…do you know if…well, does she love me in the same way that I love her?"

Daniel shook his head, "God has not revealed that. That will be something you will have to take up directly with Him…and her."

The Prince bowed in respect before he turned and walked toward his companions, trying not to let the frustration of Kaileena's unknown feelings get to him.

"Well then, Fearless Leader, shall we make it up as we go along, or do you have a plan?" Malachi said.

"Humph, Hebrew warriors do have big mouths," Kaileena mumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Malachi said, insulted.

"Nothing. I figured you should shut your mouth and wait for orders…you know, like a good soldier?"

"Well, I guess I have my big mouth and you have your big...bust," he made a gesture toward her chest, "We all need something to attract attention."

Kaileena looked down at her bosom. Then, with her mouth open in disbelief, she looked Malachi with barely bridled rage.

"You pervert! How dare you even mention my body like that!"

"Stop it!" the Prince growled at them, "You're behaving like children. And Malachi, no more remarks like that or I will let her slap you. Gentlemanly behavior, okay?

"To answer your question, yes, I do have a plan. Tell me, what is the largest, most easily defendable place in the city?"

"The Royal Palace, probably," Malachi replied.

"So I would imagine whoever orchestrated this attack is somewhere in or around the Palace."

"Daniel said that whoever attacked did so in order to destroy you," Kaileena pointed out to the Prince, "He probably knows how you think and would be ready for an assault. If we are to attack the Palace, it cannot be head on…or even over the wall. They will be looking for that."

"I know, Kaileena, but I don't believe there is any other way," the Prince replied, his mind blank to ideas at the moment.

"There must be another way in. A secret passage or tunnel…" Kaileena said

"There is," Malachi interrupted, "It's through the prison. It's a long walk, and there are quite a few traps, but it is the best way to get in undetected."

"Can you lead us?" the Prince asked hopefully.

"I have been stationed in Babylon for the past eighteen months, I know all the secrets of that Palace," Malachi answered confidently, "I am a human skeleton key."

The Prince smiled with confidence.

"Ok then, soldier; lead the way."


	9. Evesdropping on Interrogation

Chapter VIII: Eavesdropping on Interrogation

The three warriors made their way toward the Babylonian prison. They were largely unhampered for most of the way but did face sporadic fights from a few ravens possessed by the sands, and one crow master. The crow master was a sand specter; a being that gathered all the birds in an area to act as its physical body. The birds were powerless to resist the lure of the crow master. The creature was powerful, but weakly armored and thus, easy to kill so long as one avoided the swings of its sword. The Prince, Kaileena, and Malachi, being skilled warriors, dispatched him effortlessly. After this, there was no resistance until they entered the walls of the prison. Being the official prison of the satrap of Babylon, it was quite large to say the least. Suddenly, seven Raiders, two blade dancers, and an executioner ran out from the ominous, tan bricked structure and attacked the trio.

The first blade dancer attacked Kaileena, leaping into the air and attempting to get behind her. However, Kaileena anticipated this and swiped her hand talons above her head, impaling the blade dancer and throwing her to the ground. The second Dancer was smarter, and she shoulder-rolled behind Kaileena. Kaileena spun around just as the dancer was getting into position to strike and quickly slashed down at the dancer's skull. She missed, however and the dancer quickly vaulted over a still-coolheaded woman. The former Empress, who had helped create and train the blade dancers, expected such a fight. The blade dancer she faced now tried to vault back over Kaileena, as she had expected. Once again, Kaileena plucked the Dancer from the air and threw her to the ground to deliver a fatal blow.

Malachi fared much easier than anyone had expected against the executioner. The powerful sand creature swiped at Malachi's head and hit nothing but air as Malachi ducked and spun around. In the same motion, he continued around and slashed his long scimitar, cutting off the right leg of the executioner. He then made a diagonal, upward cut, slicing off the left shoulder and the head of his foe. With the vanquishing of these three enemies, the Prince had an easy job with the five Raiders. He slashed his Water Sword across the solar plexus of one, nearly cutting him in half. Without missing a beat, he grabbed the fallen soldier's sword out of mid-air and stabbed it into the abdomen of another charging Raider. As the Raider stumbled back the Prince stepped onto the handle of the sword and jumped, spinning and cutting off the head the enemy behind him while in mid-air. He then turned and pulled the sword he had just used as a springboard out of the now dead Raider and looked the final remaining enemy straight in the eye. The Raider realized he could not win and he turned in retreat. However, the Prince, not wanting to deal with this annoying minion again, threw his sword into the back of the running fighter, dropping him on the spot.

"Alright, let's move inside. Malachi, you take point," the Prince ordered.

With the elite Hebrew warrior in the lead, the three entered the prison through a hole in the wall created by a siege missile. Inside, they were confronted by two Keepers.

"Isn't that the Empress?"

"Yes. Now stop staring and kill her!"

The Keepers rushed forward, forgetting their training and were quickly cut to pieces by Malachi before they could even reach Kaileena.

"Your welcome," he said with a smug look on his face.

"Which way to the tunnel?" asked Kaileena, ignoring the remark.

"It's in the basement, four floors down. Last I checked, this prison was in bad shape after the bombardment began. We're going to be doing a lot of wall-running, Prince," Malachi warned. He then turned to Kaileena, "Can you keep up with us?"

"Yes, I will be fine, thank you," she answered, insulted.

"Can you wall-run, Kaileena?" the Prince asked, meaning no disrespect.

"For a short distance," she answered. She then held up a grappling hook. "Otherwise, I'll just use this."

"How long have you had that?" the Prince asked suspiciously.

"I just found it outside a moment ago," Kaileena shrugged, "It looks in a lot better shape than the last rope."

"I hope so," the Prince then turned to Malachi, "Alright, let's get moving."

"What happened with the last rope?" Malachi wanted to know.

"I tried to pull her up to the second floor of a building, but the rope was too worn and it snapped."

Malachi walked over to Kaileena. He pinched the skin of her arm between his thumb and index finger. She was slim and athletic, so he was unable to grab very much in the way of flesh. Nevertheless, he could not resist.

"Are you sure it was the rope?" He said, a mischievous smile on his face.

"Hey! I happen to be in very good health!" Kaileena responded irritably.

"Who said that? Kaileena, was that you? Behind the hippopotamus?"

Even the Prince could not help but laugh at that remark, which earned him a scowl from Kaileena.

"Oh, Darling, it was joke," the Prince brushed off her disapproval, "But enough of that, let's get moving."

Malachi was not yet done with his joke.

"You should do that more often, Kaileena."

"What?" she asked coldly.

"You know...move around," he then darted out of the range of her attempted slap, laughing.

"Malachi, you're going to be lucky if I don't kill you and make it look like an accident," Kaileena grumbled.

"Can't do that now though…we all know," he replied.

The warriors were unmolested for a good long while. This was a fortunate thing as their trip down into the bowels of the prison was not an easy one. They found many gaps that they had to run or jump across, beams on which to balance, and ropes to climb. The Prince had liked the fact that when he was fighting alone, he could travel at his own pace and not have to worry about losing members of his party. But on the other hand, it helped immensely to have two skilled warriors by his side. Two people that he could trust; or so he hoped.

Malachi was a true Immortal, and the Prince knew that with Daniel's confirmation that the Prince was who he claimed to be, Malachi would fight to the death for his commander and brother-in-arms. Kaileena, who had helped him fight the Dahaka and continued to battle in these continuing skirmishes at the Prince's side, seemed to be devoted. However, the fact that she, as the Empress, had sent assassins to kill him, cursed one of the swords she gave him, and even tried to kill him personally, still haunted him. The Prince knew that it was Empress Kaileena, not the Kaileena who was with him now, who had carried out all those sneak attacks, but he felt as though her loyalty still could not be fully confirmed. He tried to shake the idea from his mind.

_Daniel told me to trust her and no one else,_ he reminded himself. _Besides, I'm sure she loves me._

As the three warriors reached the bottom of the prison, the Prince turned to Malachi.

"Where is the door?" he asked.

"It's hidden, remember? It wouldn't be a secret if it was in the open," Malachi replied.

"That's just fine, but where is it?" Kaileena pressed him.

"There are two plates that will open it up; one on each side of the prison. They must be pressed at the same time and stay pressed. On the inside, there will be another plate; that one will keep the door open as long as one of the others is pressed."

"Alright then, let us…" the Prince was interrupted by the screaming of a young woman from somewhere in the prison. He signaled for the other two to stay quiet.

"I told you, I do not know anything about the Prince of Persia."  
A deeper voice growled back, "Fool! I know you're lying. You gave him your talisman. He took the Dagger of Time from your father!"

"I don't know what you are talking about. And if you insist on torturing me, we are going to be here all day because I have nothing to hide!"

"Oh no," the Prince said, eyes wide with horror, "It's Farah."


	10. Hostage Rescue Reunion

Chapter IX: Hostage Rescue Reunion

"Malachi, find a crate, or something to be used as a weight on one of those pressure plates," the Prince ordered, "Kaileena, you come with me. We need to get Farah out of there."

Without another word, everyone sprang into action. Malachi grabbed a piece of rubble and dragged it over to a plate; Kaileena and the Prince had already taken off down a hallway toward the screams. The hallways and darkened corridors seemed to wind on endlessly. Fortunately, because they were on the bottom floor of the prison, there were no beams to climb or holes in which to fall.

"It will be nice to meet your former lover," Kaileena joked.

The Prince stopped. There was a twinge in Kaileena's voice that made him uneasy. While the nature of her feelings for him (as well as whether or not she was even capable of romantic feelings) was as of yet unknown, she did seem to have an attachment to him; an attachment he feared made her reluctant to share his attention. While this was understandable—he being her first friend in the eons she had been on the Island of Time—it could cause problems.

"You're not going to have a problem with her, are you?" He asked.

Kaileena seemed to be caught off guard by the question. "No…why would I?"

"Well, you don't seem to like having Malachi along. Are you worried that I'm going to abandon you or something?"

"How…" the former Empress, not used to being addressed like this, was about to lash out. But the truth was, the Prince was onto something, she knew. With addition of another woman—one the Prince had been romantically involved with no less—Kaileena was unsure where she would fit in. First, one of the Prince's brothers in arms, and now Farah. "Well, it seems as though I'm the only one without any connections here…nothing in common to speak of. I guess that's why I'm a little…worried."

"Kaileena," the Prince replied, "you know how I feel about you, and to say that you have no connection with me…well, that's simply not true. Regardless, we can't leave her there, and we need her help."

"I know," Kaileena looked down, "I don't mean to be neurotic. I'm sorry," she drew her weapons and gave the Prince a quick nod, "Let's do this."

The Prince drew his sword as he inched along the wall toward a corner on his left. He peered around the corner to see a pair of Raiders guarding a door. He immediately turned back to Kaileena and held up two fingers.

"Who are they?" she asked.

"Raiders," he replied.

Kaileena picked up a small piece of brick and tossed it back down the hallway from which they had just come.

"What was that?" asked one of the Raiders.

"Don't ask me. Go check it out," his comrade grumbled.

The Prince and Kaileena backed up out of the torchlight and pressed themselves up against the wall as they waited for their enemy. The Raider approached…and passed right by without even noticing their presence. Suddenly, the Prince stepped out, grabbed the Raider's mask and pulled back his head, exposing his throat. With a motion as smooth as the finest oil, the Prince cut the Raider's throat from ear to ear, severing the arteries and the jugular veins in one swipe. In less than six seconds, the dungeon guard was unconscious, and in fifteen, he was dead, pouring out the Sands of Time that flowed through his body into the Prince's talisman.

Without a word, Kaileena pulled a dagger out of the fallen Raider's sheath and crept silently toward the corner. She got to within about twenty feet of the Raider before throwing the dagger into his neck. His death was a bit louder than that of his companion, but this did not matter since he was the only one left.

The two moved swiftly to the door, stopping about five feet in front of it, once again, pushing themselves up against the wall. Without a word, Kaileena moved to the door and removed the locking bolt. She then pulled open the heavy wooden door allowing the Prince to run forward with his sword at the ready. Inside, they found an empty room about thirty feet long and fifty feet wide. Being windowless, it could only be lit by torch, and there was only one burning, which meant that more than half the room was covered in darkness. The normally tan stonewalls were stained with something dark red: Blood.

_This room has been used as a torture chamber_, the Prince realized with horror. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a heavy breathing. He looked up to see, straight in front of him, Farah tied to a post. Whoever had been tormenting her did not seem to be around, so the Prince moved forward casually. As he stepped out of the shadows he called to her.

"Farah."

The young woman looked up at him with panic in her eyes.

"No, no! Stay away, it's a trap!"

Suddenly, secret windows on each side of the room opened up. Six archers, three in each window sprung up and took aim at the Prince. There was no way he could retreat to the safety of the hallway in time. Charging the archers, who already had their bows drawn, would be futile, and Kaileena could not do anything without getting herself killed as well. Suddenly the volley of arrows was released. The Prince quickly reached for his talisman, squeezing it and activating one of the sand tanks just as tips of the arrows began to pierce his flesh.

Suddenly, all the arrows flew back to their shooters who relaxed their bows and ducked down as the secret windows closed. The Prince backed up into the shadows before Farah had even known he was there. Now that he was safe once again, the Prince released his talisman, restarting time eight seconds earlier. He would try again, this time planning accordingly to deal with the archers.

"This could be a trap. Move along the right wall and stay in shadow," the Prince whispered to Kaileena.

She moved to her right and the Prince moved to his left, hugging the darkened wall. Because there was a tiny bit of dim light from the torch and because their eyes were adjusted to the dark, both Kaileena and the Prince could see each other's shape and give signals to one another. When they both passed just beyond the secret windows, the Prince called out.

"Farah."

Farah looked around until she spotted the Prince's silhouette; her eyes widened in horror.

"No! Stay away, it's a trap!" she warned urgently.

Like clockwork, the windows slid open and the archers appeared. This time, the Prince was directly beneath them. With a quick slash, he cut all their bows in half. He then vaulted up onto the window and kicked one of the archers in the face, knocking him out cold. The Prince recovered, decapitated the next archer, and stabbed his sword through the neck of the third one. Now inside the cramped room, he ducked behind the wall just as the three archers on the other side of the room released their volley. It would be their last as Kaileena, who had moved out of the kill zone, cut them down before they could reload. With that, the Prince jumped back into the main chamber and made cautiously for Farah.

"Is there anyone else?" he asked her.

"No, it was only the archers. The interrogator left," she replied with relief.

The Prince then removed a small dagger from his belt and cut leather straps that held Farah to the pole. Her feet touched the ground for the first time in two and a half days. She began to swing her arms to allow the blood to flow back into them.

"Thank you, thank you so much," Farah gratefully bowed her head to the Prince and Kaileena who was now at his side, "I owe my life to both of you."

"Well," the Prince said smiling, "for a bit of payment, you can join us in finding who did this and killing him."

"Or her," Kaileena added.

"That is not payment, that is a privilege," Farah answered determinedly, "You have no idea what I've been through. Though, I'm sure you two—whoever you are—have had similar experiences."

"You could say that," the Prince said, glancing over at Kaileena, who grinned and nodded in agreement, "Do you have any weapons?"

Farah rolled her eyes and grimaced, "One of the archers stole my bow. I'm a good archer in general but I can't miss with my personal bow."

"Wait," Kaileena walked over to the secret bunker in which the archers had been hiding. She noticed that one of them, who was dressed a little better than the other two, had a different bow as well. He must have been an officer and treated himself to the spoils of war. She retrieved the composite bow, returned and handed it to Farah.

"Is this it?" she asked.

"Yes!" Farah said excitedly, almost giddy, "talk about good luck!"

The attractive Indian princess strung it, and then drew the string to make sure it was still in working order. The bow had been made with the greatest skill and the best material India had to offer and Farah, an avid archer, kept it in perfect condition. She then walked over to the body of one of the fallen archers and retrieved a quiver of arrows and slung it over her back.

"Alright then, lead the way," she said.

With that, they moved out of the room, retracing their steps until they reached the light of the main cellblock. Suddenly, Farah stopped.

"You, I have seen your face before," she said to the Prince, trying to access her memory, "But in all that's happened in the last few days, I cannot seem to remember."

"Kakolukiam," the Prince spoke a secret word that Farah had told him during the adventure that resulted from his first release of the Sands.

Her eyes widened, "That's the word my mother used to…wait, oh my! It's you! You saved me seven years ago from that awful vizier. Do you remember that?"

"Farah," the Prince almost laughed, "I am never going to forget that."

"You told me a fantastic story," Farah giggled, "You kept me up all night…"

She suddenly stopped and looked at Kaileena, a bit embarrassed.

"Just with the story. We didn't…"

"Oh, I understand what you mean. I saw the whole thing happen," Kaileena assured.

"What do you mean? How could you see everything that happened if you were never there?" Farah was confused.

"The story I told was true," the Prince explained, "That's how I knew your mother's secret word, and how Kaileena here knows what happened.

"Farah, I give you the creator of the hourglass and the Keeper of the Sands…well the former Keeper of the Sands. The former-Empress of Time," he said looking at the beautiful woman beside him, "Kaileena."

Kaileena smiled warmly. Farah tilted her head.

"Are you…human?" she asked, "I heard that the Empress was some sort of great spirit."

"No…well, yes the…" Kaileena was not sure how to explain it, so she decided to forgo the explanation altogether, "No, I'm human. Born naturally, mortal. I got in way over my head with the Sands of Time," she then looked at the Prince and smiled again, "I think we all did," she said, to which he nodded.

"Strange, that all that could happen…but at the same time, it did not happen," Farah shook her head, "I'm confused."

"Don't trouble yourself, such a thing confuses me as well," Kaileena said empathetically; then she laughed, "And I'm the one who started all this!"

"We can talk about this later, but we should regroup with Malachi," the Prince said.

An exasperated look came over Farah's tanned face, "Not Malachi the Hebrew?" she groaned.

"Yes, that's him. Why?" the Prince asked.

"I'm fairly well acquainted with him. Trust me, he seems alright at first, but once you get to know him, he is the most annoying person you'll ever meet."

Kaileena grinned slyly at the Prince, "Are you sure you don't want to get rid of him?"

He looked back sheepishly.

Farah giggled again, "Although, I have to admit, Malachi is rather handsome."

The Prince burst out laughing as he watched Kaileena's look of triumph turned to frustration.

"I guess I _will_ have to kill him and make it look like an accident," she grumbled.


	11. Survivors

Chapter XI: Survivors

The trek back down the tunnel would take a lot shorter time without the constant, deadly threat of booby traps. The Prince and Malachi broke into a slow jog back to the two female members of their party. The Prince had wanted to ask Malachi some questions and get to know his new comrade-in-arms without Kaileena's constant interruptions.

"So, how do you know Farah? She's an Indian princess and you're stationed here in Babylon."

"Well, when the Persian Empire made an alliance with India, the Maharajah asked that your father send the Immortals to help form and train an Indian light infantry force. My unit was selected to go, and we were stationed at the Maharajah's palace. That's where I met her," Malachi smiled, but shook his head sadly, "I liked her a lot, but I get the impression that she couldn't stand me. I tend to think that that hasn't changed much."

"Well, Malachi, no offense, but you should cut down on the wisecracks. I know all Immortals do it, but you do too it often. It gets annoying to non-Team members. They don't quite understand. You need to act professional at your post…especially among foreign royalty," the Prince replied honestly but sympathetically.

"What do I do that's so annoying?" Malachi asked innocently.

"Go easy on the sarcasm," the Prince replied. He liked the young Hebrew and thought he was a good, honorable man. He also found him pretty funny, but he knew that if this party was to hold together, Malachi would need to learn that there were other personalities outside the ranks of the Immortals.

"I'll make sure Kaileena isn't a problem for you though. I cannot afford any squabbles among our group. Just don't give _her_ a hard time."

"Fine by me," Malachi replied, "She's a hard case, though."

"Give her a break," the Prince said, "She's had a rough life. This is her first full day in the real world for at least a thousand years. She'll ease up with time."

About five minutes later, they reached the entrance to the prison; they were greeted by Kaileena, Farah, and about a dozen Raiders.

"Impeccable timing," Kaileena commented to the Prince as he and Malachi joined the two women.

Farah loaded an arrow onto her composite bow, drew the string, and let the arrow fly into the skull of the lead Raider. Without thinking, she loaded another arrow and shot it at the Raider standing just behind the first. This one hit the dungeon Raider in the shoulder, causing him to yell in pain and stumble forward. Kaileena finished him off with a swipe of one of her hand talons. With that, the Prince and Malachi sprang forward and engaged the remaining ten Raiders in yet another battle. The Prince vaulted over a Raider, spinning around and killing him with a brutal downward slash. Then, cutting from his knee, the Prince killed the Raider standing directly to his right.

Malachi blocked two quick swings from his opponent's club before slicing the Raider off at the torso. He then turned to see that the Prince had vaulted over and thrown another enemy in his direction. Malachi thrust his sword into that one all the way to the hand-guard. He then spun around, cutting off a charging Raider from the right hip to the left shoulder. Meanwhile, the Prince had dispatched two more enemies; as he pursued one of the remaining three, the panicked Raider backed away without looking over his shoulder…right into Kaileena. The beautiful, lethal woman cut off his head without even a fight. Both the Prince and Malachi turned to face the remaining two Raiders, but they were spared a fight as these two were struck down by Farah's arrows.

"Well, I suppose that could have been harder," Malachi commented, "But then again, I am a professional."

"Don't blow your own trumpet, Malachi. Didn't they teach you that when you became an Immortal?" Farah said impatiently.

"I was making a joke," Malachi shot back.

"Well, make one that's funny," Farah answered rudely.

"Stop this nonsense. You're behaving like children…how many times do I have to say that?" the Prince was getting pretty angry, "Worry about yourselves, please."

_Am I the only one who realizes we are at war here?_ He wondered to himself.

His thoughts were interrupted by a reptilian hiss. He looked up at the wall to see five dragon-like spike beasts crawling from the ceiling to the floor. Their green scales reminded the Prince of the crocodiles he had seen on the Nile during his childhood visit to Egypt, only these minions' scales were tipped with sharp, claw-like armaments. Their large teeth and strong jaw gave anyone with even the slightest sense that being bitten by one of these things would most likely result in the amputation of a limb if you were _lucky_. Their yellow eyes gave no hint of remorse or conscious thought beyond destroying anyone they found. The Prince had dealt with many of these creatures on the Island of Time, and he knew just how dangerous they were. Before he could say a word, Farah quickly loaded an arrow onto her bow and let it fly. The powerful arrow pierced one of the spike beast's tough hide causing it to roar in pain and lose its grip on the wall. However, it got up and began charging at the group. Farah unloaded another arrow at the creature. This time, when the arrow hit, the minion burst into flames, but it continued to charge. Suddenly, in a bright flash of light and heat, it exploded.

"AHH, exploding lizards! Are these yours as well, Kaileena?" Malachi exclaimed.

"I never thought I'd end up fighting against them," Kaileena gave Malachi a guilty look as she picked up an axe and tossed it to the Prince. The Prince in turn wound up and threw the axe at another minion, cutting off its upper jaw and skull, causing it to explode as well. By now, the three remaining were getting dangerously close; all four of the warriors knew that killing these things with non-ranged weapons would be costly to themselves and their companions.

"Let's move!" the Prince yelled, stepping on the pressure plate in the tunnel, "Malachi, I'll stand on this, get one of the boxes off of one out there!"

"I can't, the lizards would get there before me!" Malachi protested, "Then we'd all be dead!"

However, the escape plan was interrupted by a group of eight new enemies, which materialized out of thin air in the tunnel behind them. These fighters were dressed completely in royal purple robes with red hoods. Their bronze armor shown brilliantly from the light of the torches. They seemed to hover just above the ground like ghosts, floating back and forth in a zigzag pattern as they advanced menacingly toward the group.

"Oh, no! The Imperial Guard," Kaileena groaned, knowing that their chance of survival had just decreased dramatically.

"What are they?" Malachi asked as he squared up to them.

"Her former royal guards," The Prince stared at them without blinking, waiting for any sudden movement, "Two at a time would be nothing I've found, but not sixteen."

"And not with spike beasts behind us," Kaileena added, "How much sand do you have left?"

The Prince looked down at the talisman, a sinking feeling in his stomach, "One, and we wouldn't have enough time to destroy both the guards and the lizards."

Farah retrieved an arrow from her quiver and took aim at a guard, releasing an arrow right at its center mass. But just as the arrow reached the guard, it drew its sword and sliced it in half.

"Well, so much for that," Farah commented gravely.

The group stood together as the spike beasts closed in from the prison and the guards advanced from the tunnel. Suddenly, a rain of javelins began flying down onto the crocodilian monsters. Massive confusion followed in the ensuing explosions. When the explosions subsided, twenty-five Persian regular infantrymen burst through the smoke.

"You four, move out of the way!" shouted the lead infantryman, obviously the commanding sergeant. Malachi, Farah, and the Prince moved to the side, but Kaileena still stood in the doorway.

"No! Fall back!" she warned in horror.

Suddenly, both the Persians and the Imperial Guards charged full speed at one another. Kaileena rolled out of the way just in time.

"Damn it," the Prince swore as he watched the Persians charge down the tunnel, "They'll be slaughtered."

As he predicted, in less than a second after the two armies clashed, the Persian soldiers began dropping like flies, not even a match for the guards. Within about six seconds, only seven of the original twenty-five soldiers were still alive. Not one of the sixteen guards was even wounded. All the Prince could do was pray that one of the guards would die so he could collect the sand.

Then, he had an idea; it was a long shot, but it was a chance nonetheless.

"Kaileena take my hand! Farah, take Kaileena and Malachi's hand," the Prince ordered.

Without questioning, they did were they were told. The Prince then squeezed his talisman with his free hand. Suddenly, time slowed down.

"What just happened?" Farah asked.

"No time to explain. We have eight seconds; ATTACK!" the Prince commanded.

They charged forward to help the remaining Persians, which were now down to three. The Prince cut through an guard's arm before slashing back across and cutting off the guard's head. The head, body, and sword moved so slowly they seemed almost motionless in midair. The Prince then slashed at the chest of another enemy, but as the Water Sword impacted, it flexed like a piece of plywood and bounced off. Normally the enchanted weapon would slice right through standard armor. Nonetheless, the Prince slashed again, this time at a crack between the breastplate and the helmet. The sword cut though, but had an extremely tough time doing so. He kicked the sword of one of the fallen enemies up and grabbed it. In one fluid motion he continued forward with his inertia and ran between two guards, slicing off both their heads.

Meanwhile, Farah had unloaded four arrows in, had time been moving at a normal pace, less than a second, killing four more enemies. Malachi, as quick as the Prince and nearly, if not as skilled, cut off the head of two guards in as many slices. Kaileena made a scissor-like cut through the throat of an enemy with her hand talons and was about to attack a second remaining guard when the Eye of the Storm ended and time sped up to normal. As this happened, the three Persian soldiers charged forward, driving their spears into the surviving, disoriented guards.

With the fight over, the three army regulars turned to their four saviors in awe.

"How did you move so fast?" asked one of the soldiers in a heavy accent.

"This amulet," the Prince gestured toward the talisman in his breastplate, which was taking in the sands of the fallen Imperials, "controls time. It can slow down time for the wearer and whoever is touching him…or her. No one except those people would notice anything."

"Whatever you did, we owe you our lives for it," answered another soldier.

"Well, you saved us too," the Prince replied, "So, thank you for that."

The Prince bent down to one of the fallen Persians and closed the soldier's eyelids.

"God rest your soul, soldier," he whispered.

He then rose to his feet and addressed the soldiers who stood at attention before him.

"Can I have your names and ranks please?"

"Philon, Infantryman second-class," said the soldier with the heavy accent.

"Sounds Greek, is it?" the Prince inquired.

"Yes, sir, I'm from Ionia," Philon answered, "We all are. Well, I was actually from Athens and I…"

"Very good," The Prince cut him off as he then moved on to the second soldier, a large, muscular man who was obviously a veteran, judging by the scars on his arms.

"Simonides, Chief Infantryman," he announced. Without stopping, the Prince turned to the final man, who was quite young, probably not more than seventeen or eighteen years of age.

"Kleitos, Infantryman recruit," the young soldier said.

"Ok, that's good. Now I need to know the situation. How many survivors do we have in and around the palace and the prison?" the Prince asked.

"Our unit started with one-hundred three days ago. We're all that's left. There might be a few more units, and I'm sure reinforcements are on their way from Ecbatana. But I can only confirm the three of us," Simonides answered sadly, "they attacked so quickly, even most of the Immortals were killed. And they cut through us regulars like goat-cheese."

"Do you know if any other Immortals are still alive?" Malachi asked.

"I think you may be the last, Sergeant, although nobody actually saw General Ishaad get killed. He might be in the palace somewhere. I would think that he has some of his men with him too," Simonides added, "but I doubt it, he was right next to the king when the king was killed, so I imagine he's dead too."

"Well, that's too bad. But we don't have time to mourn. We'd better go see who's still alive in the palace. Before we go, this is Century Sergeant Malachi, the archer is Farah and," the Prince looked back at Kaileena, who seemed to be spacing out, and took her hand to bring her back to Earth, "this is Kaileena. Now, let's move."

"Alright, men, you heard the Prince, fall in," Simonides ordered.

With that, they all took off down the tunnel.


	12. General Ishaad

_Two more chapters up!_

Chapter XII: General Ishaad

The group of warriors, now expanded to seven, emerged from the tunnels, ready for a fight. The Prince looked around and realized that the only light was that given off by the moon. He, Malachi, and Kaileena had been underground for the entire day, but it had felt like less than three hours. This was a nice change from the dingy, underground chambers through which they had just wandered. The shiny, marble floor glowed in the moon and a large fountain in the middle of the hall shimmered and cast a reflection on the tall ceiling. Most noticeable of all was the silence; the first silence any of them had encountered in hours.

"It's a little late, are you sure we're not imposing?" Malachi cracked.

"Well, Malachi, if they're asleep, maybe we should wake them up. After all, it's not polite to sleep when your guests arrive," the Prince said. He then turned and looked toward a short, rectangular opening in the wall; now that he was in the palace, the Prince knew all the ins and outs, defenses, and activation switches in the enormous building. To get past this large hall, he would need to descend down into a small chamber where a crank, which would open the only door out of the hall, was located.

"Farah, you get on that balcony and kill anything that tries to get down in that hole. It's only one-way, so if anyone gets in there, I'm stuck. Infantry, stand guard by that opening. Malachi, stay with Farah and make sure nobody gets behind her. Kaileena, let's go."

"Wait, it would probably be best if we used the infantry to guard the door to the tunnel. Put two near that opening and one by the path to the crank," Kaileena suggested.

"Good thinking…Simonides, Kleitos, take the tunnel, Philon, take the door," the Prince ordered.

"It would probably be best if we put Kleitos back from the tunnel since he's inexperienced. I would assign him to the tunnel," Kaileena argued.

"Hey, who's in command here?" the Prince glared at her.

"I'm just saying…" Kaileena protested.

"Ok, you're right, Kaileena. Do what she suggested, Infantry." The Prince was not about to waste time on dumb little idiosyncrasies with her.

With that, everyone snapped into action and took up their positions. Farah and Malachi climbed to the top the balcony and Kleitos moved closely behind the Prince and Kaileena, stopping at the opening that led to the switch.

"You want to know what I've always wondered, Farah?"

"If this is another thing about marrying camels, I don't want to hear it."

"Ok, never mind."

"I don't know why you ever even thought that was funny."

"I don't know. Maybe I had too much wine when I came up with it."

"Certainly possible. At any rate, shut up."

Farah and Malachi's voices faded away as Kaileena and the Prince descended toward the chamber. They had only moved about twenty-five yards forward when they came to their first obstacle: A pit of spikes and two sets of wall-cutter saws. To make matters worse, the ledge on the other side of the spike pit was covered with spikes as well.

"I can't wall-run that far, and using my grappling hook would be suicide…" Kaileena began.

"I understand, I was just going to say that you should wait here," the Prince interrupted.

"Good luck," she said.

"I don't get a kiss for luck?" the Prince asking teasingly.

"Please, not this again," Kaileena groaned.

The Prince tapped his talisman. Instantly, the wall-cutters saws slowed to a crawl, allowing the Prince to wall-run to the other side with ease. He then rounded a corner to be greeted by a spinning sword pole moving up and down on a vertical guide-rod at the top of a flight of stairs. However, the Eye of the Storm still had a few seconds before it ran out, so the Prince was able to duck under the trap with ease and move down the stairs. He moved forward and jumped to a ladder, which led down to the crank. He began to slide down when something made him stop.

_That's odd, I never knew there was a trap door up on the ceiling,_ he thought. _ I need to stay on my toes, that's a perfect ambush point._

With that, he slid down to the crank, narrowly avoiding a painful fall onto the wooden plank. The room was nearly pitch black except for the faint glow of coals in the center of the crank's pivot. The Prince did not feel like getting into a fight in such a dark, cramped room, so he quickly ran the crank until he heard a "CLUNK!" signaling that he had opened the door. With that, he made for the ladder again.

About a minute later, the Prince was back on the other side of the spike pit and heading back to the hall from which he came.

"Kaileena?" he called.

Silence.

"Kaileena, are you alright?"

The Prince looked down to see a trail of liquid…blood.

_No,_ the Prince thought with growing horror as he followed the trail, _no, no, it couldn't be._ Suddenly, his heart was in his throat. With rising dread, he moved closer and closer to the source. _Please, God. Say she's alive, say I didn't fail her._

He finally came upon the source of the blood; it was not Kaileena. Lying on the ground with his throat cut from ear to ear was the young Kleitos. _Okay, it's not her. But…damn it! Where was everyone else?_ The Prince wondered. _ Didn't they hear a fight going on? Unless…he was killed silently; killed from behind. It makes sense, _he pointed out to himself_, there does not appear to have been any struggle…but who could have done this? The only ones in the tunnel were Kaileena and I. Kaileena? No! Don't even think that! She's totally loyal; Daniel said to trust her…Argh!_ The Prince's mind raced. Suddenly, a hand fell on his shoulder, causing him to nearly hit his head on the low ceiling. He turned around to see Kaileena, who was now looking down in horror.

"Oh, no! What happened?" She poked her head out of the doorway frantically and looked around, "is everyone else alive?" she called in a tremulous voice.

Her voice alerted everyone else over to the body. In less than ten seconds, everyone was crowded around Kleitos.

"What happened here, Prince? I didn't hear a thing," Simonides asked urgently.

"I don't know, but it looks like he was taken down without a fight," the Prince said thoughtfully, "It would have had to have been done from behind, but I don't know how an assassin could have gotten past Kaileena." The Prince did not want to think about the other possibility, but he could not rule it out.

"That hole in the wall," Kaileena pointed to a hole about four feet by four feet, "I went in to make sure that no one was hiding in there since it went back pretty far. There wasn't anyone though…but don't go in there," she shuddered, "there's about a dozen cobras in there. One nearly bit me."

"Ahh, I HATE snakes!" Farah made a disgusted face.

"An Indian princess afraid of snakes," a voice behind her chuckled.

Everyone turned to see a small, round faced man grinning with malice at the group. His gaze then turned to Malachi.

"I ought to have you whipped for insubordination, at attention Immortal!" the man snarled.

Malachi stood up and saluted.

"General Ishaad," he said, for the first time, with absolutely no emotion, "I'm sorry sir, I didn't see you there."  
"Don't let it happen again," Ishaad was completely serious. He then turned to Kaileena and Farah.

"Non-military personnel are restricted from this room. Soldiers," he said to Simonides and Philon, "Escort them out. Then report back to me for further assignments."

"Wait just a minute. I'm in command of this operation. And as Prince of Persia, you are under my command, General Ishaad," the Prince said firmly.

Ishaad snapped to attention, "I'm sorry, my Prince, I did not recognize you, forgive my disrespect."

"It's alright, General. It's been a long day," the Prince replied.

"Would you like me to have the women escorted out?" Ishaad offered.

"Yes, and how about Kaileena as well?" Malachi joked. This earned him a smack to the side of his head from her.

"No, Farah and Kaileena are with us; they're combatants," the Prince explained, "I'll make introductions later, but we need to get moving before we're trapped in this room again."

"Sir, what about Kleitos?" Simonides asked.

"We'll come back for the body," he replied, "for now, we need to get moving. Fall in, everyone."

The group made for the ladder that led to the door to rest of the palace. Upon reaching the doorway, they encountered two Keepers. The Keepers were completely off guard when the Prince and Malachi, the first two through the doorway, attacked. The first one was just looking toward Malachi, when the charging Immortal slashed his razor-like sword deeply through the Keeper's chest, slicing apart his lungs, heart, and ribcage. The Keeper was dead before he hit the ground.

At the same time, the Prince rolled toward the other Keeper, slashing and cutting the Keeper's leg. However, the sword once again got stuck and the Prince had to use much of his strength to pull it out. As he did, he spun around and cut off the Keeper's head.

"What, you didn't leave any for me?" Kaileena joked upon climbing to the top of the ladder.

"I'd let you hack the bodies up a little more if you want, but they seem to have disappeared," Malachi taunted.

Kaileena made a face, "You're twisted, Malachi. Sick and twisted. Besides," she mocked, "I was making a joke."


	13. A Rat in the Nest

Chapter XIII: A Rat in the Nest

"This is the royal dining hall, correct?" Philon asked, impressed.

"Yes, but it looks like quite a number has been done on it by the bombardment," the Prince commented. He looked down from the balcony, which overlooked the royal table. Babylon was the most central city in the Persian Empire; thus, the king, queen and their sons spent a great deal of time living there. The Prince recalled his days as a young boy, looking up at the guards protecting his family.

"There's only one door to the rest of the palace from this hall. A security measure that…obviously did very little good. Let's move quickly," Ishaad said.

The Prince, Farah, Malachi, Ishaad, Simonides, and Philon began descending the staircase. However, about a quarter of the way down, the staircase dropped. Unfortunately, Farah had already taken one step too many and fell about twenty feet to the floor below. She let out a scream that was cut short as her fragile body hit the floor. The Prince looked down in horror at her unconscious form; instinctively, he grabbed his talisman and rewound time. Farah suddenly appeared to get up and rise into midair back to the top of the staircase. Once Farah was a safe distance from the drop, the Prince released the talisman.

"Farah, stop!" he yelled urgently.

She stopped just in time, as two fragments of the stone staircase dropped to the floor.

"Wow, that was close, thanks," she said breathlessly, "Now, how are we going to get down there?"

The Prince looked around the room. He did not see any tapestries that he could slide down. No platforms or edges to grab onto and work his way down. Then he remembered…

"Kaileena, do you still have that grappling hook?"  
She did not answer.

"Kaileena?"

"Sorry, I dropped my grappling hook. I had to go down the ladder and get it," she called out.

"Klutz," mumbled Malachi.

"Good thing you noticed that, we need the hook right now. I don't think there's any other way down," the Prince called back.

In a few moments, Kaileena returned and attached the grappling hook onto a balcony railing.

"Everyone else go down first, I'll follow after that so I can collect the rope," she said.

One by one, the members of the improvised warrior group slid down to the dining room floor. The Prince was the second to last one to fast-rope down; his trip started out normally, but suddenly, Kaileena, who was helping to hold the rope steady, was pushed by an executioner. Since she did not have time to let go of the rope, she pulled it away, causing the Prince to lose his grip and fall the final ten feet down. He landed on his back, hard.

"Ouch, damn you!" he shouted at the executioner who, to his surprise, grabbed the grappling hook, reset it on the balcony, and followed the Prince to the bottom. By this time, Kaileena recovered, only to be nearly run over by three more executioners. Four more enemies, blade dancers, jumped from the rafters, onto the balcony, and down to the floor below, using their intense training to land in fighting position unharmed. The first one jumped in the air at the Prince, but Farah was able to shoot the blade dancer down like a low flying vulture. The dead blade dancer fell onto one of the executioners, causing him to let down his guard as he shrugged her off.

This was all the time the Prince needed, or so he thought. He lunged at the executioner, slashing. But the highly trained soldier knocked the Prince's sword out of the way and kicked him onto his already sore back. The Prince ignored the shooting pain and brought his sword to deflect the swing of the executioner's blade. Once again, the blade flexed, this time so much that the executioners axe nearly hit his nose. His foe was strong—incredibly strong—and the Prince knew that he would not be able to deflect another blow and he rolled out the way. He got up to continue his battle with the executioner, only to see a spear protruding from the deadly fighter's stomach. Simonides withdrew his spear quickly and turned to fight another enemy.

The Prince turned around just in time to see another executioner swinging a heavy axe at his skull. He quickly tapped his talisman and ducked out of the way of the now slow-moving axe. Now behind the executioner, the Prince slashed his sword at the mid-section of the powerful, well-trained enemy, but was only able to leave a long, shallow cut. Something was obviously wrong with his sword, so he picked up an executioner's axe and continued the battle. He spun around to see a blade dancer attempting to jump onto his back; with no hesitation, he swung his axe up and killed her in midair. Suddenly, time sped up to normal as two executioners rushed toward him, swinging heavy flanged maces. The Prince blocked one of the maces just as Malachi rolled between him and the executioner and cut the executioner's abdomen. The mortally wounded enemy dropped to the ground in pain as sand flowed from the slice. With that, Malachi rolled clear. The Prince, getting a little irritated by the constant attacks, wanted to get rid of the next enemy as soon as possible. He blocked the executioner's mace and kicked him in the side of the leg just above the knee, shocking the artery and dropping him to his knees. The Prince then sliced off the executioner's head, glad that he was able to avoid a long drawn out fight. The final enemy, a blade dancer lunged desperately at the Prince, but she was quickly dropped by one of Farah's arrows.

"Is everyone ok?" the Prince asked.

"I took a cut in the arm, but I'm alright," Philon reported.

Kaileena, still on the balcony, let out a groan as she attempted to steady herself on the railing.

"Oh, no…Kaileena…" the Prince grunted as he climbed up to his companion.

"Are you ok?" he asked, putting his arm around Kaileena to steady her.

"I think so," she said, in a bit of a daze, "I hit my head on the railing when those executioners pushed me out of the way. I'll be alright in a minute." She shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"I'm alright, I can see straight now."

"Can you make it down the rope?" the Prince asked, still concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine." She replied. With that, she rappelled downward.

The Prince shrugged, and headed down the rope. When he reached the bottom, he found Ishaad confronting Kaileena.

"How did you know about this attack?" Ishaad demanded.

"What are you talking about?" Kaileena was completely caught off guard.

"You were the only one not on the floor at the time; you stayed out of the battle zone. It just seems a little bit suspicious to me," Ishaad glared menacingly at the now angry woman.

"How…they nearly knocked me out cold up on the balcony. That's why I wasn't at the bottom. Were you even paying attention, Ishaad?"

"Tell me something, _Empress_…first off, empress of what?" Ishaad sneered.

"Empress of Time," Kaileena said coldly, "If you don't believe me, look around you, these enemies are not human…they have the Sands of Time running through them…"

"Your subordinates," Ishaad interrupted turning to the Prince, "It looks like we have a rat."

"Silence! I won't have dissidence in this group! Ishaad, Kaileena has been with me since the beginning. I trust her. General, she is no traitor," the Prince said. However, considering what he had been through in the past week, he did not fully trust anyone…he felt that he could not afford to do so.

"Very well, my Prince," Ishaad's voice was dripping with heavy sarcasm and insubordination as he offered a half-hearted salute.

"I don't like your tone, General," the Prince growled at him as he came chest-to-chest with the small man. Ishaad cowered down as the Prince's glare seemed to bore into his soul. "I happen to know that you never went through Immortal School and were appointed to your position because your father bribed my brother, Rastin. So," he grabbed the Immortals insignia pinned to Ishaad's shirt and tore it loose, "You have no right to wear this. Also, you are in no position to tell warriors who have been to the battlefield, have tracked spies and rats, and who put in more blood and sweat in a day than you have in your life, how to conduct their business. Do you understand?"

The arrogant defiance was gone from Ishaad's demeanor as the Prince had humiliated him in public. Nervously, he glanced down at the large hole created by the Prince ripping the insignia off his shirt, then back up at the Prince. "Should I…scout on ahead and make sure the coast is clear? I'll be back in a minute," Ishaad said, walking backwards as he spoke.

"Yes, that would be fine. Don't disappear though," the Prince said coldly.

With that, Ishaad backed out of the room.

For a moment there was an awkward silence as everyone tried to analyze the exchange between Ishaad and Kaileena. Then, leaning onto Malachi's shoulder, Farah broke the silence.

"So, Malachi, tell me again about the pros and cons of marrying a camel."


	14. Assignments

_Two more up!_

Chapter XIV: Assignments

"Can you believe the audacity of that man? Criticizing me and questioning my loyalty in front of everyone…I didn't see him fighting at all! All of you know that I am no traitor. As a matter of fact, I don't trust him to…" Kaileena, almost in tears, unleashed her rage to everyone.

"Well, I could see if you wanted to kill me, but then again, everyone does," Malachi smiled and shrugged.

"Shut your mouth, Malachi, just give us all a moment of silence!" Kaileena's temper was now almost completely out of control, "I swear, when, or if, Ishaad comes back, I'm going to kill that…that…son of a…"

"Don't say camel, because that's insulting to camels, and I'm thinking that maybe someday I might marry one. They're easier to understand than women," Malachi said, obviously not grasping the fact that humor had no effect on her now.

"Malachi, shut up!" the Prince ordered, annoyed. The man had _absolutely_ no social awareness.

However, he was too late to stop Kaileena's temper from finally bursting. She threw down her hand talons and made for Malachi. Since Ishaad was not here, Malachi would take the brunt of her wrath. All of a sudden, Farah stepped in front of him and blocked the raging Kaileena from grabbing or slapping him.

"Kaileena, please calm down. Ishaad was out of line, I know, but I know that man well, no one listens to him. He's covering up for his own cowardice and all of us know it. Please, keep a clear head, dear; we all need you here a lot more than we need him. I'm sure the Prince," she said looking straight at him while releasing a calmer Kaileena, "Will deal with the General's comments accordingly."

"Of course," the Prince said, putting his arm around Kaileena, "Don't worry, Kaileena."

His gentleness and comforting brought her back under control, and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"And Malachi," Farah glared at him, "Drop the camel joke; it's gotten old and it was never funny to begin with."

"Who said it was a joke?"

"MALACHI!" Farah snapped.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry." He stepped back. The Prince gave him a strange look.

"What's with the camels?" he asked.

"Inside joke among my unit. She didn't get it when I explained it," Malachi replied.

"Malachi, if it's an inside joke…it means it's only funny on the inside."

"Inside of what?"

"The group."

"What group?"

"The group where the joke started."

"Oh," Malachi paused and thought, then continued, "It can be funny if you explain it,"

The Prince sighed, "Alright, fine, whatever," he was beginning to see why Farah had such short patience with him: Things just went over his head. "If you see someone getting angry, don't continue to antagonize them, alright? That doesn't work."

"Okay," Malachi seemed a bit ashamed now.

A minute later, Ishaad reentered the room. He was panting hard and had a look of panic on his face.

"The courtyard is blocked, there's a bunch of heavy infantry down there. We'll have to cut through the baths if we want to avoid them," he advised.

"With all due respect sir, with the Prince's amulet slowing down time, we can easily take out that group of enemies," Simonides responded.

"There's about twenty of them, Chief," Ishaad replied.

"Sir, if we don't face them now, we are going to have to face them later," Simonides reasoned. However, he saw that his argument was futile, as the arrogant general would never listen to his subordinates.

"General, sir, Simonides is right," Malachi stepped in, "Besides, do we even know what kind of enemy strength we are dealing with in the baths?"

"Don't question me, soldier, or I'll have you demoted before…" Ishaad began angrily.

"General, what did I just say?" the Prince yelled, "You're not in command anymore!"

"I would speak to your brother before making such an assumption, My Prince," Ishaad replied.

"What do you think you're doing, General?" Malachi stepped forward, "You can't talk to a prince like that!"

"Malachi, stand down!" the Prince snapped.

"Would someone please establish control here?" Farah threw up her arms in desperation.

"Farah!" he whirled to face her, still not used to being challenged…especially by _her_. Regardless, she would have none of it.

"No! All of you, be quiet! You may be in charge, my Prince, but you _all_ need to listen to this and stop squabbling! And some of us," she glared at Ishaad, "who don't know what they're doing need to forget about what they think is their birthright and listen to those who know what they're doing." After a short silence, she continued, "Come to think of it, do we even _know_ what we want to do, or who we're looking for, or what…I mean, we can wander through the palace all night killing who knows how many enemies? But we don't know how many enemies we're up against, we don't know what their mission is, or who put this attack together.

"Yes, our goal is to find out who did this and to capture or kill him. But we have no way of finding him. Have you even thought about that? If we're going to succeed, we need to know what we're doing and how we're going to do it. Let's stop these power struggles and finger pointing and draw up a plan to follow."

There was a long silence; everyone, especially the Prince, was impressed with Farah. Though she did not look a day older than when he knew her seven years earlier, she had become quite wise. She was the only one who seemed to have an ounce of reason in her at this moment. Still, he did not want to seem _too_ humbled by her, so he folded his arms and gave her a sly, arrogant look.

"Well then, Farah, do you have a plan?" he said.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Our group is too large to be sneaking around. And, it draws large attacks. I say we split up, head to different parts of the palace, and start gathering reconnaissance about the nature of the attackers, their specific goals, and the leaders. Then meet at the baths at dawn and compare what we found."

There was very little to argue with this plan. Also, Farah knew enough to try and make the Prince as though he was not the one in command, so she gave him a nod and stepped back with the rest of the warriors, obviously giving the floor to him. Nonetheless, as The Prince stepped out in front to address everyone, he was obviously humbled, and he thought better than to try and hide it. "Farah, if I didn't know who you were, I would have thought you attended an officer's training academy. I…well," he laughed nervously, "I am going to completely take your advice. Simonides, Ishaad, Philon, I want you to go through the aviary, the zoo, the courtyard…everywhere around the palace.

"Kaileena, you and I will go back down the tunnel and head to the Hanging Gardens.

"Farah, you and Malachi go through the interior parts of the palace. Everyone, we'll meet at the baths in the morning."

Farah groaned and rolled her eyes, "Please, can't _you _go with Malachi, and I'll go with Kaileena? Or, since we seem to have some chemistry from…well that adventure that never happened…"

"Oh, just go, Farah. Malachi, behave yourself," the Prince responded, exasperated.

"My Prince, I…" Farah protested.

"You're in charge, Farah," he added.

Her face brightened, "Alright then, fall in, Malachi!"


	15. Weakened Trust

Chapter XV: Weakened Trust

A moment after dispatching everyone to their assignments, Kaileena and the Prince headed back down the tunnel. When they reached the intersection, the Prince pulled a lever, rerouting the tunnel to the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Once again, the way was fraught with traps.

"I can stay with you, don't worry," Kaileena said, placing her hand on the Prince's shoulder.

"Alright then," he replied.

The two of them rushed forward toward the first trap, a spinning blade pole. They easily rolled under it just as a wall crusher, a large stone horizontal pillar, nearly bashed them against the wall. They waited for it to withdraw and ran past it…nearly into a pit of spikes! The Prince took a breath and ran on the wall out to a small, stone sill. He nearly lost his grip and fell, but he was able to grab the edge just in time.

"Look out!" Kaileena called as she tossed her grappling hook toward the ledge on which the Prince was standing. The Prince lightly stamped on the sharp, iron hook, locking it into the crumbling stone. Back on the other side, Kaileena pulled the rope tight and rushed forward. With the assistance, she was able to make it all the way to the ledge.

"Okay, now what?" the Prince asked rhetorically as he looked around. He couldn't get up enough speed pressed against the wall like he was to wall-run or even jump to the other side. There were no other ledges or poles that he could grab.

"That lever, hanging from the ceiling…It probably drops a bridge or something. Can you lift me up there?" Kaileena asked.

"It'll be tough, but we can try. Here, I'll boost you up," the Prince offered.

Kaileena stepped into his hand and he pushed her up to the hanging lever. As soon as the Prince let her go, the lever sank with Kaileena's weight. Suddenly a bridge extended from one end of the pit to the other. Kaileena dropped down about three feet to the bridge; as she moved out of the way, the Prince leapt to join her.

"I hope that was it," Kaileena grumbled. Unfortunately, they had to run through the paths of five buzz saws sticking out of the floor. However, after this, they were home free to the Gardens. The Prince had been there many times, but they still looked beautiful. It seemed as though this wonder was spared the bombardment that the rest of the city had taken. The air felt warm and moist from the fountains, which sprayed a fine mist into the air.

Kaileena felt calm as well, as the Gardens of Babylon reminded her of the hanging gardens back in the Fortress of Time. She remembered sitting in the sun, swimming in the fountains, and feeling complete comfort.

"You and Farah seem to have connected quite well," The Prince interrupted her thoughts.

Kaileena smiled, "Yes, she truly is a kindhearted soul. She's a brave fighter too, even for someone who is not trained in combat. I can see why you liked her. When this is all over, I can see a lasting friendship between us. That is, so long as she doesn't…" Kaileena then caught herself and stopped.

"Doesn't what?" The Prince asked.

"Never mind," she replied, looking down.

Uh…alright," he shrugged. Then, he continued, "I'm going to need to talk to Malachi. Immortals do have a great amount of confidence, but he is letting his turn into arrogance and carelessness. He must have been a handful for his commander.

"I'll make sure he leaves you alone, Kaileena. The last thing we need is for everyone to turn on one another."

"Thank you," she said quietly, "I…I don't mean to be oversensitive, though. He's a good warrior, but…" she frowned, "well, I guess we need him…and I don't hate him to the point of wishing death on him, but he needs to get serious about this task."

"I agree," the Prince said as they moved further into the ziggurat-turned-landmark, "In a way, he and Farah are very much alike…well, as I knew her seven years ago; she seems to have changed a bit since then. Although, she was a bit more mature…Kaileena?" he noticed she was not really listening, but looking up at the structures out of which beautiful vines and plants grew, a calm smile on her face.

"It's beautiful," she said dreamily, "the moon…the way it reflects off those fountains…there's a rainbow in that one," she pointed. Then, she looked over at the Prince and frowned, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lose focus."

"It's okay," he reassured her, slowly moving closer and moving his arm around her waist.

"It's just everything is so…"

"Beautiful," he finished, taking her chin and staring into her emerald eyes. Her features softened even more as she stared back, slowly moving closer till her body was pressed gently against his. The Prince slowly leaned in to kiss her. To his joy, she seemed to be receptive as she leaned into him. Finally, he could express his love in the way he wanted.

"Here they are, just like we were told!" shouted out a Keeper to his comrades. With that, five of them rushed forward.

The Prince rolled under the slash of the first Keeper and cut him across the back, severing the spine. He then got up and vaulted over the next Keeper, mule kicking him toward Kaileena and rolling free. Kaileena, naturally, did the rest. She then made her scissor like slash and decapitated the next enemy.

The Prince then had an idea; as the last two Keepers rushed him, he vaulted over and killed one, then he executed a roundhouse kick and knocked the next Keeper to the ground hard, stepped on his sword and kicked it away. The Keeper lay on the ground in a daze trying to lose his double vision. But before he could recover, the Prince bent down and pressed his knee into the Keeper's chest.

"Why are you here? Who are you working for?" the Prince demanded.

"Why resist, Prince? He is going to kill you anyway," the Keeper answered defiantly.

"Who? Who is doing this?"

The Keeper laughed, "It is too bad that the Empress is not here to see your death, Prince."

"You're not serving the Empress! Who are you serving?" the Prince yelled.

"The warrior in the cloak, you betrayed him. Only through your death can he be released from his bondage."

"What bondage? Speak up or die!" the Prince dug his knee deeper into the Keeper's chest and stuck the tip of his sword into the Keeper's shoulder and twisted. The Keeper finally gave in.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you! I do not know who he is or where he came from. He said would take what was rightfully his…and that included your life."

"What does he want to do?"

"He needs you to die so that he can take your place," the Keeper coughed, "He has made a deal with the Empress, that is why my brethren and I are under his command."

"How is that possible? The Empress voluntarily abdicated her throne!" The Prince said, though he had to hold back any sign that may have resulted from the cold jolt that ran through his body at this news.

"You fool! The Empress stepped down only because she had no choice. When you are dead, your enemy will be satisfied, and he will allow the Empress to return to the throne as she intends," the soldier smiled evilly at the Prince, "Do you not know who your enemy is?"

"Who is he?"

"It is the S…" he never finished as a spear flew through the air, shattered the Water Sword, and pierced the Keeper's skull. The Prince snapped his head around to see who had thrown the spear. On the next level of the Gardens, he saw the silhouette in the moonlight of a woman ducking back into the shadows.

Was that intended for me? He wondered, or was this Keeper killed so that he wouldn't be able to tell me what he knows?

"Kaileena, did you see who threw that spear?" The Prince asked. But Kaileena was not there. He had seen a woman running from where the spear was thrown. Was it Kaileena? No, it couldn't be, he told himself, it was probably a blade dancer.

"Kaileena, where did you go?" he called out, getting a little suspicious.

"I'm over here," she stepped forward from behind a fountain, "Sorry, I thought I saw something, and I wanted to check for an ambush. What did that Keeper tell you?"

"He said that…well, I couldn't get him to say much," he lied, "He was loyal to the end."

It hurt him to lie to someone he loved so much; but after what he had been told his trust in her was a little shaken.

The Prince looked at his Water Sword…or what was left of it. How could a common spear do this? The blade was shattered; only about six inches of it remained intact. He threw it away in disgust. As it hit the ground, it suddenly dissolved into the all too familiar Sands of Time. But instead of collecting in the Prince's talisman, it formed a thick cloud of sand, much like the ones that gave the Prince prophecies during his adventure in Azad. Perhaps these would do the same.

"That was strange, I was under the impression that the Water Sword could not be destroyed," Kaileena said. She picked up a sword from a fallen Keeper and handed it to the Prince as he made his way toward the cloud. It was a one handed straight sword with a blade that was only about twenty inches long, designed for stabbing and not cutting. He would have to find something better if he was to use his skills to their full potential, but right now, that was not the first thing on his mind.

"What do you think you're…" Kaileena did not get to finish her sentence before the Prince stepped into the cloud. As it was seven years ago, visions began rushing across his mind. But these were a bit different. He saw Kaileena, dressed as a servant of the Empress, fighting with Shahdee, who was dressed in the same tunic Kaileena had worn as Empress. He then saw Kaileena overpower and mortally wound Shahdee. The dying woman then offered her hand up, which Kaileena took. This immediately raised her off the floor and into a cloud of swirling sand exiting Shadee's wound. The vision changed, and now he saw her laying on her bed on the Island, deep in thought. Again the vision changed, now he saw the future. He saw himself walking down an alley in wartorn Babylon. Suddenly, an unmistakable shape, Kaileena's hand talon, crashed down on the back of his neck, disabling him. Then, the vision ended.


	16. The Hanging Gardens

_I apologize for this taking so long. I've had a busy schedule and I needed to do some revising. Anyway, here it is, and there should be some more on the way a bit sooner hopefully._

_Note: I updated and revised Chapter XI. Check that out too.  
_

Chapter XVI: The Hanging Gardens

_What did all that mean?_ the Prince wondered _Kaileena said she was miserable as Empress. Was she lying? Is she setting me up?_

"I really don't think anyone else is here, there's no point in…"

"Wait," the Prince interrupted, "What is that glint?"

"Where?" Kaileena asked.

"Up on the highest level. Is that a weapon?" the Prince said squinting at whatever it was. Kaileena followed his gaze.

"Yes, it looks like a scimitar of some kind…I assume you're going up to get it?"

"Yes"

"Alright then."

Kaileena followed in her usual distance behind the Prince. He glanced back every once in a while to make sure that she didn't do anything threatening. The Prince approached a tall pillar that held up the next level of the Garden, grabbed, and shimmied up it. He then jumped to the head of a statue in the middle of the fountain and launched off of it onto the next level. He was met at the top by Kaileena, who had used her grappling hook.

"Well, your way seemed a bit unnecessary," she smiled.

"Maybe, but your way was a lot more boring," the Prince replied.

"You should have told me you were bringing a friend," a blade dancer moaned as she dropped from the level above. The Prince dived beneath her split jump and spun around to meet her. Kaileena attacked her from behind but was pushed to the ground as another dancer dropped.

"We're never alone," the blade dancer taunted as she stabbed at Kaileena's face. However, the former Empress crossed her talons and pushed the dancer hard against the wall. She then drew back one of her weapons and drove it through her enemy's stomach. The other dancer was then distracted by the death of her comrade, allowing the Prince to run her through with his sword.

"Let's move!" the Prince ordered. Kaileena got up and headed for a ladder. Suddenly, she stopped.

"Oh, damn!" she dropped onto the soft grass and rolled clear as arrows rained down from the next level, "Where is Farah when we need her?"

"I always asked the same question during our time in Azad," the Prince said, "Come on, we'll find another way up."

He walked to the edge and jumped for the circular beam above the fountain. He noticed a small part of the third level stuck out a bit further toward the fountain; he jumped quickly to it and hoisted himself up. Suddenly the two archers, who had been firing down the ladder, looked up at the Prince and brought their bows up to fire. There was nowhere he could go in time before he would be shot. Once again he tapped the sands for help, just as the arrows took flight. The Prince dived out of the way and rolled to his feet, taking off toward the archers who, with time slowed for them, had no time to put up a defense against the Prince's lethal attack. He cut the throat of one and stabbed through the shoulder and down to the heart of the other. He then tapped the talisman again to return time to normal.

"Kaileena, I got the archers, come on up," he called down to her.

She climbed the ladder to meet the Prince, looking strange. The Prince did not know whether to gauge her demeanor as threatening or worried.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes, it's just," she swallowed, "Well…I remember something about the Water Sword. How it was destroyed, I mean," she said without any emotion.

"How?"

Kaileena swallowed again, "Only the Empress can destroy it."

"What?" So it was her! The Prince could barely speak, but he managed to utter, "Why would you do this?"

"What are you talking about?" she cocked her head at the question, then her eyes widened, "No, I didn't! How could you even think that?"

The Prince sighed, feeling a bit guilty for blaming her, "I'm sorry, Kaileena, it's just…"

"You must believe me, I didn't do this! Someone else has taken this power that I had. I don't know how this happened. Please…" Kaileena said with great frustration and hurt.

The Prince turned his back and dropped onto the grass, looking toward the ever-brightening horizon. Was Daniel not speaking for God when he said to stay with Kaileena? Was Daniel wrong? Or was he just paranoid?

"Please," Kaileena draped herself over the Prince's shoulders, "Believe me, I would never betray you. I lo…those days are over."

The Prince wanted so hard to believe her. But after what the Keeper had said, and after the sand vision, he knew that to do so was impossible. Maybe he was wrong—hopefully—but when he was in Azad, every one of those sand visions came true.

"Listen, we need to get this whole cockamamie mess over with before I can sort everything out," he said, getting up without looking at her.

This gesture really hurt Kaileena, and at the same time angered her. She was cut for him, she spilled her own blood, she admired him more than anyone, and this was the thanks she got? How dare he treat her like this, after all they had been through? She had spared his life; she had directed him on the Island of Time on how to dismantle _her own plan_!

But then again, she had lied to him; she did not tell him who she was until he had forced her. She had put her own life before his. The Prince had been chased, betrayed, and forced to give up his life, and she expected him to fight with her and trust her with absolutely no question. On second thought, who did she think _she_ was?

Kaileena bit her lip hard to keep from crying. She had so many doubts about herself and was not sure how much more she could bear. Life had never been so hard as Empress.

"Okay," she breathed hard, "Let's move on."

They ran to the next ladder, checking for archers along the way. This ladder was not guarded by archers, but by three Keepers.

"You again? How many Keepers are here?" the Prince was quite irritated.

"More than you can handle, Prince," one of them sneered. He was cut off quickly by the Prince, who shoved his sword in the Keeper's mouth and up into his brainstem. The other two Keepers hacked at the Prince but were unable to hit anything but the blade of his sword. The Prince jumped up and vaulted over one of them, spun and made a landing slice. Had he been armed with the Water Sword, or any other sword like it, he would have easily killed the Keeper. However, this short, close-fighting stabbing sword did not deal quite as much damage and the Keeper, though badly wounded, was able to stay on his feet. The Prince picked up the sword of the fallen one and stabbed it, along with his own, into the chest of the wounded Keeper. He quickly extracted them both and in the scissor-like slash so often used by Kaileena, sliced off the Keeper's head. The last Keeper lunged at the Prince, who stepped out of the way, tripping his enemy with a quick hook of his foot. He then quickly finished the fallen Keeper off. With this resistance gone, the Prince and Kaileena continued on to the next level.

After about five minutes of the same process, that is, climbing, fighting, and looking for any way to the sword, they finally made it to the altar. Unfortunately, a grate blocked them from accessing the sword.

"Well, doesn't this just figure," the Prince said, disgusted, "Now, how do we get it open?"

Kaileena looked at the grate closely.

"There, see that chain? It would have to lead to…there," she pointed to a lever down on the second level, "And…there," she pointed to another on the platform, this one higher than the one they were on.

"You see," she said, smiling, "You need me."

"I know I do. Nice work, my dear," He said giving her shoulder a squeeze, "Now, let's get this thing open."

***

"Just a little more leverage," Malachi pushed hard on the iron bar wedged in the heavy door until there was a big enough crack to squeeze through. However, there was a heavy chain keeping the door from opening all the way. "Alright," he continued, "I think we'll be able to get in. Well, at least you will Farah."

She rolled her eyes and sighed as she turned sideways and slipped through the crack.

"What did I say?" Malachi asked innocently.

"I am sensitive about my body. I have been eating more and exercising, trying to get more muscle, but I can never seem to get any bigger than this," she explained as she got inside.

"I didn't crack a joke. But you _are_ the smaller of the two of us, so what were you expecting me to say?" Malachi was getting exasperated. Couldn't he say _anything_ right?

Farah sighed again as she retrieved the spare key hanging on the wall inside the vault and handed it out to Malachi. "Alright then, I'm sorry. I took that the wrong way."

Putting the key in the rusty lock, Malachi turned with all his might until he heard the click of the latch being freed. With a little more effort, he was able to pull it free.

"I'll light the torches in here," Farah announced.

"Good. Illumination at night is essential for seeing things," Malachi replied flatly, his ego having been deflated for awhile after being bombarded by the Prince, Farah, Kaileena, and Ishaad. They just did not seem to understand or appreciate him. All the men in his unit thought he was hilarious, but here, he seemed to just elicit groans and reprimand.

"What's causing this attitude of yours?" Farah asked as the illumination system ignited.

"Nothing, it's just," Malachi pulled the rusty chain loose from the door and opened it all the way, "Why do you hate me, Farah?"

Farah pursed her lips and looked awkwardly away from the Jewish soldier. "Well, I see a lot of the gold and jewels are still in this vault. So, obviously, this was not a war for wealth."  
"Yes, that much is true," Malachi stated thoughtfully, "But that in no way answers my question."

Farah sighed again, "I don't hate you, Malachi," she said quietly.

"Alright then, why do you not like me?" he pressed.

"Uh," Farah paused and tried to choose her words. She was not in her palace and not in any position of authority, so she could not wave this off. "Well, when I first met you, I liked you. I remember all of your fellow soldiers had been pointing at me and whispering when I went by; I don't know what they were talking about, but I have a series of guesses which I will not get into right now. You were the only one not taking part in that. You came up and talked to me, but not like you were trying to court me or sleep with me or something. I liked that, and I found you to be a charming, respectable man.

"Then you started telling vulgar jokes, and trying to get me to take an interest in your hobbies and you did not see that I had no interest whatsoever. Then, I remember one of our servants was angry with your group for the mess they had made, and you kept making fun of him and making the situation worse!"

"I was trying to calm him down," Malachi protested, "I find that if a person can see the humor in a situation, it puts them in a better mood."

"Sometimes, but you push the limits, Malachi," Farah explained, "You don't seem to notice—or care—when it isn't working. I don't know if it's because you don't have an awareness of what's going on, or if you're just trying to make trouble. At any rate, it annoyed me, and as you can see, it annoys everyone else."

Malachi grunted, "Maybe everyone just needs to get a sense of humor and calm down."

For a second, Farah was tempted to snap back like an irritated parent, but she hesitated, realizing that she would be doing so just out of her stubborn, confrontational nature.

"You know," she said, "I think you're right, Malachi."

Malachi raised his eyebrows, "Really?"

Farah gave him a smile, "It takes strong nerves and a calm soul to be able to keep one's good humor in tense situations. It also shows that you can always see good in the worst of situations. That is something to be admired."

Malachi grinned back but avoided her eyes. "Thank you…for those words, Farah. But you don't have to justify yourself to me. If you don't like me, you don't like me. We'll serve together to figure this mess out, then you can go back to India and forget about me," he shrugged, "No problem there, right? I don't need to make friends, I just need to do my job."

Normally, this would sound like a guilt trip, but Farah could tell that, surprisingly, Malachi was completely serious. He realized, or at least felt, that he was not wanted, just needed, and he accepted that. It was as though he shut off his emotions anyway.

"We should get moving, Princess," Malachi said monotonously, "This area is clear."

"Uh," Farah looked around, "Right," she followed him.

"You know, I had initially suspected Ishaad of being behind this," Malachi said as they left the vault, "But aside from a few things here and there, valuables are laying in the street, and all the vaults we've checked so far have been undisturbed. That would be his first target in such an attack."

Farah nodded, "Also, I do recall you telling me that Daniel told all of you that this was an enemy who had a grudge against the Prince and was very powerful. Ishaad is a schemer and a coward; he is not what I would call a powerful enemy."

The two walked silently down a corridor until they reached a large room with bright tapestries on the wall. Around the room were flung overstuffed pillows and comfortable looking silk blankets. In the center of the room was a bath, with seats around the edge for attendants holding towels or helping to bathe their ladies; evidently, they were in the harem bath…now it was nightmare.

Two naked bodies of bathing concubines lay facedown in the bath, run through with swords, their blood completely turning the bath red. That walls that made up what was a separate room for spur of the moment trysts with the king or princeswas broken down, revealing a lady and a palace servant, in the midst of a forbidden encounter, pinned to the ground by a spear. Normally, the servant would have been whipped for carrying on such an affair, but he paid even more dearly…but died in the arms of his lover.

The eunuch guards were both lying dead by the entrance, unable to mount a defense before the quick-moving Sand Army overtook them. Five more mutilated bodies lay about as well.

Malachi pulled the two corpses from the bath and covered them with towels.

"No women taken as slaves," Malach muttered, "Not a soul was spared."

"Perhaps it was one of these women's time of the month," Farah joked.

Malachi glared at her, "Even I haven't stooped that low, Farah," he grumbled, "Making fun of slaughtered concubines."

Farah frowned, a bit ashamed.

"Besides," Malachi added, "If that was the case, it would be a _lot_ worse than this."

"Good point."

They continued on through the harem, stepping lightly and carefully to avoid any blood or bodies. There was nothing to see here. Malachi was feeling especially uneasy, walking through the quarters of such women as these. He held women in high regard and his heart ached to see them die in such disgrace. As they were about to leave, Malachi tore a tapestry off the wall and draped it over the last concubine he found, who was laying on her back naked with her legs spread, her throat cut.

"Why did you do that?" Farah asked, "You did the same thing with the two bodies in the bath."

"They already have been humiliated enough," he replied, "Let them be found somewhat respectfully."

Farah stared at the now shrouded bodies for a bit. She felt great regret on their behalf. At the same time, she was beginning to feel more and more respect for Malachi. Perhaps he was a bit lacking in his social awareness, but his intentions were good. He was very noble and respectful too, seeing to it that even dead concubines and prostitutes were shown the proper respect. His abrasive personality was obviously a less stubborn flaw of his than she originally thought. Perhaps she had been wrong about him completely.


	17. High Treason

Chapter XVII: High Treason

Ishaad and the two infantrymen worked their way forward through the zoo. They had encountered some strange animals from the Island of Time such as the exploding spike beasts and the sand-wolves that were wandering around, but most of the others were still locked in their cages. Strangely, they had faced very little resistance since they had split from everyone else, but Philon and Simonides wrote it off believing that the majority of the enemy was either within the palace's interior or regrouping outside the city. They crept toward a figure that was hiding behind a large monkey cage.

"Sir, Philon and I will take this man," Simonides whispered.

"Right, I'll stay here and cover you," Ishaad replied.

The two soldiers tiptoed behind the enemy, who seemed completely oblivious to their presence. About fifteen feet to the man, Simonides signaled Philon to hold his position. With that, Simonides crept close enough to where he was in range to stab this enemy. Silently, he drew his spear back and prepared for his kill. As he thrust forward, the enemy suddenly spun out of the way, drew his sword, and cut Simonides's spear in half. Without missing a beat, the deadly fighter thrust his sword into the large Ionian's chest all the way up to the hand guard. As quickly as he had stabbed, this evil killer withdrew his sword as his victim's lifeless body fell to the ground. Philon looked up in horror at the cloaked figure that had just killed his squad leader and mentor.

"General!" Philon called to Ishaad, "Help me!"

Ishaad drew his sword and rushed forward behind the young Ionian. When he reached Philon, he grasped his shoulder and, before Philon could realize what was happening, thrust his sword through the unsuspecting soldier's back, lung, and heart.

"I did not expect you here, I'm sorry, sir," Ishaad said as he wiped his blade.

"The Prince is close to the truth, and no doubt there is an army on the way to take back the city…one which I do not have the manpower to repel."

"Don't worry about that. I have sent a report to Susa, stating that the attack was put down and that the city was back in Persian hands," Ishaad said. He then smiled deviously, "I also sent another report of a second army coming in from Egypt, made up Egyptians and Jews seeking to overthrow the Empire, so the entire Babylon Corps will be at least three days from here should there be any word of the truth."

"Nonetheless, we have to move this a little faster or the plan will be ruined. Now is the time to strike. Now is the time to take that talisman."

"Are you out of your mind? Assuming I could even get close enough to take that trinket, I would never be able to escape. The Prince was the head of the Immortals, the _true_ commander, who actually went though the training! He's stronger, faster, and better with a sword than I am! It would be suicide!" Ishaad ranted.

The cloaked figure sighed with exasperation, "Were you born stupid, or have you been practicing? I am not suggesting that you lift it from him, you imbecile…"

"Then what are you suggesting?" Ishaad interrupted.

The Cloaked Figure sighed and walked toward the early morning sun.

"Follow them, keep them in sight. Use these," he lifted his cape and handed Ishaad two hand talons similar to Kaileena's, "However, you must not kill him, leave that to me."

Ishaad gave him a puzzled look, "I already have a sword and a spear. And if you don't want me to kill him, why did you give me these…things?"

"Just do as I have ordered you," the evil being sighed, more exasperated, "Now, where are they headed?"

Stopping to think for a moment, Ishaad tried to recall where the rendezvous point was. Then, he remembered, "The baths."

The figured nodded. "Darman!" he called to one to one of the Sand Army's lieutenants, who was in hiding among the palm leaves, ready to ambush.

Darman stood up, along with twenty other keepers and two assassins. "Yes, Your Excellency?" he replied in his raspy voice.

"You have a new assignment, trap them at the baths. Take the Prince alive. General Ishaad will lead you. As for you, General," the figure glared at the scheming politician, "Stay…out…of…sight. If you are spotted, you will not be paid."

***

The Prince decided to send Kaileena down to the lever on the second level while he would take the one on the upper platform. He was glad that he did, as the journey to the upper lever was a difficult one. It consisted of swinging on a row of flagpoles sticking out from the wall about forty feet above the ground level to a group of pillars. He then had to launch from pillar to pillar to a beam sticking out from an unfinished addition to one of the upper levels. He leapt from beam to beam until he reached a rope hanging on the wall.

"Something should be said about ladders," he grumbled as he ran along the wall, grasping the rope. After gaining enough speed, he let go and ran toward a ledge near the bottom of the lever platform; he grabbed it hoisted himself up. He then grabbed the next level and pulled up onto that. About half a minute later, he made it to the top. He walked up to the lever and pulled. It did not budge.

"I'm at the lever!" Kaileena called up to the Prince.

"I am too, but it's either jammed or locked! Pull yours first!" he yelled back.

He heard a metallic "clink" as she pulled the lever. With that, he tried his lever again. This time, it operated with ease, opening the grate that guarded the sword.

A few minutes later, the Prince made his way to the sword. It was a medium length weapon with a twenty-six or twenty-seven-inch curved blade. It had a simple, straight hand guard and a straight handle. The Prince picked it up and swung it around. It was light and felt relatively sturdy, but nothing like the Water Sword. On the blade was chiseled a hissing cobra head and an inscription in Pahlavi script.

"'Whoever wields the Cobra Sword holds the power of the deadly serpent's bite,'" the Prince read, "Whatever that means." It had been about twenty-eight straight hours since he had slept and, like anyone else, was becoming very irritable. He then slung the weapon over his back and headed back down to Kaileena.

***

Farah provided cover for Malachi as he worked his way down a staircase outside the palace wall. They had encountered only very light resistance after they exited the harem bath. They caught three raiders by surprise and all three were quickly neutralized before they could put up much of a fight. This somewhat tranquil journey they had been on was not lost on either of them.

"This place was crawling with enemies before. Where have they all gone?" Malachi wondered aloud.

"Perhaps they are concentrating their forces to go after the Prince," Farah offered.

"Possibly, but I was fighting them constantly for the past three days. Then again…they seem to have changed their tactics since he and Kaileena arrived."

Farah joined him at the bottom, the coast obviously clear. Eyes sharp and ears open, Malachi continued to move forward slowly and methodically. He stopped suddenly, feelingly Farah tug at his sleeve; turning to her, their eyes met and her curious look turned to a friendly smile.

"When did the Immortals start using these blue uniforms? I remember many pictures of your comrades wearing bright war tunics with all different designs," she asked innocently.

Malachi shrugged, "A few years before I joined, I think. The old uniforms stood out too much if we tried to conduct nighttime raids."

"I see," Farah nodded, "Well, these are better anyway; the old ones looked silly."

"We still have to wear the ceremonial ones when stationed in Susa or Ecbatana. You learn not to complain after awhile," Malachi explained. Suddenly, he stopped and knelt down.

Without having to be told, Farah did the same. "What is it?" she asked quietly.

Gesturing lightly, he drew her attention to the movement in the palms in the courtyard garden in front of them. There was a _lot_ of movement, meaning there were a lot of enemies. Farah immediately reached for an arrow and Malachi gripped his sword tightly.

"How many?" she whispered.

"Hard to tell. Looks like at least twenty. We have the element of surprise though. You could get off four or five arrows before they figure out what's going on, and I could get in the middle of them and cause some confusion."

"Too late!" she interrupted, drawing back her bow and taking aim, "They've seen us!"

Meanwhile, Darman's scout stopped short, looked straight down the aim of the Indian princess. She was only about twenty yards away and he would probably not be able to get out of the way if she fired an arrow.

"Lieutenant, it's the Jew and the Indian," he hissed, "Shall we kill them? We are ordered to."

Darman's eyes narrowed, "Where is the Hebrew?"

"Oh," the scout was surprised to see that Malachi had disappeared, "He's gone."

Growling with fear disguised as rage, "We're already dead. Run!"

Before the last decimals of his words left his lips, there was a whiff followed by a mix of a clang and a sound like a sheet tearing. Darman looked back just in time to see the Immortal cut down one of his keepers. Before any others could response, the Hebrew warrior sliced his sword upward, nearly cutting the next keeper in half.

"Stop hi…" another soldier rushed at Malachi, but was struck down by one of Farah's arrows.

Two others tried to stop Malachi, but one was struck down again by Farah and the other, distracted and suddenly worried about potential incoming arrows, turned away, allowing Malachi to grab him by the neck and throw him to the ground hard. Grabbing the keeper's chin and the back of his head, Malachi twisted violently, breaking his enemy's neck, killing him instantly.

"Malachi!" Farah called out, "Behind you!"

Without bothering to look, Malachi rolled to his right, out of the palms, drawing out to the two enemies who had snuck up behind him as well as three in front of him. Quickly, he rolled to his feet, his sword held in a high ready position over his head as his enemies circled him.

"You fools!" Darman called to them, "You'll be slaughtered. Run!"

"He's no match for…" a keeper began to boast, but as his head was turned to look at his commander, Malachi took advantage, running and vaulting over him. Twisting in mid-air, he sliced his sword horizontally, severing the braggart keeper's head with ease. Another keeper rushed forward, but Malachi spun around too quickly and quickly ran him through with his sword.

This was the last that the ambushed army needed to see and, as their commander had ordered, they ran off. Malachi thought for a second about pursuing them, but decided against it. He had the upper hand with the element of surprise, but he and Farah were greatly outnumbered and he knew that sooner or later, the odds would turn against him fatally. Sheathing his sword, he turned back to Farah, who had already put her arrow back in the quiver.

"Strange," Malachi commented, "That was too easy."

Crossing her arms and frowning disapprovingly, "I thought we went through this. Malachi," Farah replied flatly, "please stop trying to impress me."

Malachi groaned loudly as his walk turned into a stalk towards the Indian princess. "Farah, could you please step off your moral throne of judgment and listen to me? I was not boasting."

A look of guilt crossed her face and she dropped her arms, "Oh," she said, "Sorry."

"What I _meant_ was that they outnumbered us greatly. But they did not continue fight," he said, "It was too easy and that worries me."

"Perhaps it was the element of surprise," Farah suggested, "We caught them off guard and they went to regroup."

Malachi shook his head, "No. They were a task force, not a patrol. They were trying to avoid us."

"But for what purpose?" Farah asked rhetorically, "They could be tracking our friends, but if that was the case, we can only conclude that they would trying to eliminate them, which means they would have no reason not to kill us."

Malachi walked away from Farah for a moment, walking the parameter of the courtyard they were in, his sword at the ready.

"Malachi: I…" Farah hesitated, "I'm sorry for saying the things I said. You are a good and noble man and I…well, I am royalty and I let that corrupt me sometimes. I should not speak to you the way I do."

Turning back, Malachi's face showed a forced, yet somewhat guilty smile, "You don't need to apologize to me, Princess. I know that I am not without guilt and reason for your anger. I am trying to properly present myself to the company at hand."

"Well," Farah smiled, "You're doing well. I think I now see the true you behind your mask of foolishness."

For a moment, both stared at each other, smiling sweetly, unsaid words passing between them.

"Well," Malachi broke the somewhat awkward silence, "We need to make our way to the meeting point."

"Hmm? Oh, yes your right. We should move on. Come along now," Farah agreed, blushing a bit. What was happening with them, she wondered, and so quickly?


	18. Battle in the Baths

Chapter XVIII: Battle in the Baths

About an hour later, the Prince and Kaileena had made it back down to the tunnel to the Palace, retracing their steps to the royal dining room.

"Alright, let's head over to the baths," the Prince said.

"Good, I'm beginning to feel a bit grimy," Kaileena replied as they headed out of the hall. The baths were not too far from the dining room, so that the royal family could bathe and swim, exercise, and train directly after breakfast. They walked down a hallway and up a flight of stairs, through a few more halls, and down another flight of steps to the large doorway. The Prince opened them up and entered the baths.

"Ok, my turn…Warrior."

"Sword."

"Weapon."

"Spear."

"Shaft."

"Wood."

"Stick."

"Am I interrupting anything?" the Prince asked Farah and Malachi.

"Oh, there you are. No, we were just playing some games while we waited for you," Farah replied.

"Hesitation; you lose," Malachi teased.

Farah rolled her eyes, "That didn't count."

"Ha! Say what you want, but I win, five to three," Malachi replied triumphantly.

The Prince chuckled and shook his head.

"You two seem to be getting along alright," Kaileena commented.

"Yeah, she's not that bad once you get to know her," Malachi cracked, throwing his arm around Farah's shoulder.

"I think she was talking to me," Farah glared at Malachi, removing his arm.

"Did you two find anything?" the Prince asked.

"Yes we did: Some bread in the kitchen. It's still pretty fresh," Malachi replied.

"No, I mean about our _mission_?" the Prince said impatiently.

"Nothing. I'm sorry, we looked, we eavesdropped on every conversation, Malachi even tried interrogating some of the enemies we wounded. Absolutely nothing though," Farah said, feeling guilty.

The Prince sighed, "Well, you did what you could, I can't ask for anything else," he said sympathetically. He felt like yelling at someone, but no one had done anything wrong, and it was counterproductive anyway.

"Bread?" Malachi offered, "two loaves."

"We can each have half a loaf," added Farah.

"Wow, you figured that out without an adding machine," Malachi teased.

"Shut up," came the snappy reply.

The four fighters all rested for a quick meal. It was no royal breakfast, but it felt good for them to get food in their empty stomachs and to have calm conversations that did not focus on the mission. What surprised the Prince the most was the dramatic change in Farah's and Malachi's relationship. They were talking and telling stories like best friends.

"Remember that time when one of the royal tigers got loose from your father's zoo?" Malachi reminisced.

"Yes, it's hard to forget that," Farah laughed, "It would have been tragic, but nobody was hurt."

"What happened?" Kaileena asked.

"Her father had just hired a new assistant keeper for the tigers," Malachi explained, "The man could not have been much bigger than a mouse. Plus, he was clumsier than drunken man."

"Yes," Farah interrupted, though Malachi did not seem to mind too much, as he was busy shoving another piece of bread into his mouth, "He went to feed the tigers and had unlocked the cage, and one of the _cubs_ decided to charge at him. He _squealed _and ran over to the monkey cage, locked himself inside, and climbed up a tree."

"Then," Malachi finished, "Farah and her then suitor…"

"Sapjit, conceited fool," she shook her head in disgust.

"Right. The man was trying to impress her with something. He went over to the cage, sees the cub running around, and then turns to me and says, 'I am an expert with tigers. Let me get him.' So," Malachi takes another bite, "He picks up the cub, which of course bites him. _He_ screams, then runs…right into the mother tiger! He gives her the baby, and then takes off running."

"So then," Farah took over, "the tiger catches him and tears off his clothes, so now he's running up to the palace in a loincloth while the tiger is eating his clothes."

"Where were you during all this?" the Prince asked, finishing up his bread.

"As soon as the mother tiger came around, I ran after Sapjit. Then when I saw the tiger eating his shirt, I figured I would just run to safety."

Malachi shook his head and chuckled, "The zookeepers were running around for hours trying to find the tigress; of course she was nowhere. So later, I go up to her room to see if she's alright…"

"Which you were _not_ asked to do," Farah reminded him.

"Because I am thoughtful and don't always need to be told when to check on royalty, especially in a breach of security," Malachi shot back lightly, "And the tiger is asleep in her bed!"

Farah giggled, "Yes, and when the zookeeper came to bring her back, he couldn't wake her up. When he finally did, the she was purring all the way back to the cage. I was almost tempted to let her stay in the bed. She was cute."

"Till she rips your face off!" Malachi swiped at her like a tiger.

They all laughed as they stood up and brushed the crumbs off their clothes.

"Kaileena, I'm sure you have some interesting stories from your time as Empress," Farah commented, "Anything funny?"

"Well," Kaileena looked thoughtful, "That's a difficult question. I never had much of a sense of humor as the Empress, nor did I have enough patience to enjoy a moment of comedy. And," she ran her fingers through her hair, "After seven hundred years of worrying about my fate, I don't really remember anything to laugh about."

Farah nodded sympathetically.

"Of course, there was…" Kaileena thought for a moment, "Oh yes. There was this one time that I…"

Suddenly, she was interrupted by the loud sound of the doors being kicked in. Upon instinct, all of them drew their weapons, muscles tensed, the relaxation of only a moment before now disappeared. They looked around to see the Imperial Royal Guards at the three main entrances, large bronze shields at the ready, swords held high over their heads. They moved aside to let in a team of fifteen keepers and executioners, which quickly formed a circle around the four, who were now back to back, ready to defend from all sides. Malachi recognized them as the party that he and Farah and come upon earlier.

"It's a trap," the Prince hissed, "they knew we were here."

"How do you know we weren't scouted?" Kaileena whispered.

"Impossible. This is the royal bath," Malachi said, "Only we knew about its location."

"Drop your weapons!"

They looked up to see archers surrounding their position from a balcony.

Fifteen minutes later, no sooner had the last crumb disappeared then they were under attack from a group of Keepers, blade dancers, and an assassin: A more elite blade dancer.

"This is not looking good. How many times can you slow time with that thing?" Farah asked the Prince.

"Two more, but the more sand I take from them, the more I can do so," he replied.

"You are covered from an elevated position," the commander of the archers, "You are surrounded. Do not resist!"

The Prince assessed the situation, looking at all possible escapes; there were none. He looked at how they could dive to safety; it was impossible. They could dive into the water; but the arrows would not lose enough speed in the shallow pool and would retain their lethality. They could always surrender too…and that would probably lead to torture, death, and subsequently the fall of the Persian Empire.

"Join hands," he whispered.

"I giving you one last warning: Drop your weapons or die!" the commander yelled again.

The four joined hands as the Prince squeezed his talisman. Time suddenly slowed down. "Forward!" he ordered, "Take the guards at the door!"

With their weapons held out in front of them, they charged in a wedge toward the enemies in front of them. The Prince, wanting to make sure to get penetration, lunged forward, slashing his sword dangerously close to his friends while taking the heads off of two raiders.

"Be careful!" Farah warned.

Malachi engaged the enemy directly in front of him, dispatching him with a quick stab through the chest.

"Keep going!" the Prince ordered, "Break their siege! Stay together!"

"There's no way we're going to break that shield wall," Kaileena said.

"Then we become a _battering ram_," the Prince growled, "Charge!" the four charged full speed into the bronze shields.

The Guards were surprised by the speed with which they were hit, causing them to stumble back, but even the four warriors combined did not combine enough weight to push back the miniature phalanx enough to break them loose. As a result, The Prince and both stumbled, almost falling flat on their faces in front of the enemies…just as the power of the Sand wore off; Kaileena stopped short and Malachi rolled out of the way.

"Damn it," the Prince growled as he rolled over onto his back, looking at the guards upside down. There was no way he was going to get to his sword quick enough to counter a swipe from the sword, and the guard was at the ready. Instinctively, he reached for his talisman, ready to reverse time.

"Kill the Princess!" the commander of the guards ordered.

_Wait, what?_ The Prince thought _he_ was the target! Quickly, he recovered his sword and thrust it to his side, blocking the blow that would have decapitated Farah!

With a small shriek of surprise, she rolled out of the way and onto her feet, just as a barrage of arrows flew past her. Knowing that she would have little chance of survival, she scrambled over to a pillar and ducked behind it, just as another wave of arrows impacted around her.

By this time, the Prince had recovered and squeezed his talisman again, rushing in the opposite direction of Farah, toward where he saw Kaileena last. As he ran toward her, two raiders armed with clubs, seemingly in slow motion, moved in to block the Prince. However, with a time disadvantage, the Prince decapitated one and, with the inertia of the swinging sword, came around and stabbed the other. As soon as these two were dispatched, however, he noticed that Kaileena was no longer there.

"Kaileena!" he yelled, as he looked around frantically for her. Hesitation almost cost his life as the sand effect wore off and a blade dancer jumped onto his back. He struggled, wrapping his arm around her leg and trying to pry her loose. He shook from side to side, keeping her just off balance enough that she could not lift her blade to his throat, but not enough to jar her loose. Shifting his weight, he attempted to drive his elbow into her ribs, or hopefully knock the wind out of her, but her leg lock was just too tight. The Prince knew he was running out of options, as the remaining enemies were closing in on him and Malachi, who had also taken refuge behind a pillar from the archers.

"ARRGH!" he bellowed as he backpedaled quickly, slamming the blade dancer between his body and the wall, causing her to loosen her hold a little bit on him, but as she slid down a bit, she wrapped her arm around his neck hard. The sudden shock of blood and air being cut off caused the Prince to lose his equilibrium and stumble back.

"It's…no use…Prince," she grunted, struggled, "I will take you alive…just like…I was order…" suddenly she was cut off as Malachi grabbed her hair and pulled her head back violently, exposing her throat. Without taken a second of satisfaction, he plunged his dagger into her neck, causing an immediate gush of blood and sand.

As the dying blade dancer collapsed like a rag doll to the ground, the Prince gasped as air rushed back into his lungs.

"Are you al…" Malachi began. Suddenly, there was a _wisp,_ followed by a sickening thud of an arrow piercing into Malachi's leg.

"AHHH!" he yelled in pain, collapsing to the ground.

Immediately, the Prince grabbed Malachi's armor and dragged him behind a pillar, just as three more arrows impacted around them.

"Bastard!" Malachi growled as he clutched his leg. Two more arrows impacted and embedded themselves in the pillar.

The Prince looked around at the situation: Farah was behind a vase, safe for the moment from the archers, but still endangered by the enemies on the ground. Seeing a Keeper beginning to close in on her, the Prince reached out and grabbed the fallen blade dancer's disc blade and threw it at him. The razor shape blade easily decapitated the encroaching enemy, saving Farah for the moment.

"Can you move?" The Prince asked Malachi.

"Yes, it mostly hit flesh," Malachi winced as pulled on the arrow, "Get this thing out of my leg!" Before the Prince could do anything, Malachi grabbed his sword and stabbed a Raider who had suddenly rushed at the down soldier. "Wait a moment, you impatient fools!" he shouted at the remaining enemies, "I'll kill you when I'm ready…AHHHH!" he screamed as the Prince yanked the arrow out of his leg. He looked down in horror as blood began to flow…a lot of it.

"Damn it," the Prince grumbled as he untied a scarf that he had around his belt and put it on Malachi's leg. "Brace yourself again," he warned as he pulled the tourniquet tight. Malachi grunted in pain but as soon as the scarf was tied, he pulled himself to his feet.

"Where's Kaileena?" he demanded, "Did you see where she went?"

Malachi shook his head. "She was right next to me a minute ago." He looked over at Farah as two more arrows impacted the vase in front of her. She had an arrow ready to go and as soon as the archers unloaded their volley, she stood up from behind the vase, drew her bow, and released a shot into one of the enemies, hitting him just above the collarbone. The surprised archer gasped out and clutched his neck and collapsed over the balcony, dropping his bow and hanging his quiver down.

Suddenly, Malachi had an idea, "Can you get out there and get that soldier's bow and arrows?" he asked the Prince.

The Prince looked down at his talisman to see how much sand he had available. He looked up and nodded, "Yes. Hold on."

* * *

Ishaad looked through a small window above the balcony at the battle going on below. He was grinning to himself for, from what he could tell from his "extensive" military experience, they were trapped.

"Just as I had planned," he muttered to himself.

"You arrogant fool," his "master" cackled, causing Ishaad to jump and shriek.

"My Lord," he said, "What are you doing here?"

The figure grunted, "As though I can trust you with my plans," he replied sarcastically, "They should have captured when they came to the dock yesterday, but they received warning and landed on the other side of the city."

"But…they're trapped this time. There's no way they can escape!"

The figure walked over to Ishaad and pulled him out of the way, his blood red eyes glaring from his skull-like face as he looked through the window. He saw the Prince dash forward with lightning speed, knowing that the Prince had envoked the Eye of the Storm power. He watched him grab the fallen bow and arrows and quickly bring them back to the other Immortal, hiding behind the pillar.

"Those lazy cowards, why won't they attack?" Ishaad spat, looking upon the squad of eight remaining keepers.

"They are no match for Immortals in defensive positions and Darman knows this," the Prince's enemy replied.

"Well why don't the Imperial Guards help them?" Ishaad pressed.

"Because if they give the Prince any opening to escape, he will!" the Figure raged, "Have you forgotten that as long as he has the Amulet of Time, seconds become minutes to them!"

Ishaad sighed and sat down again; how was he _ever_ going to get his money?

The Figure looked down at his own amulet and ran his boney finger around its edge until it began to glow.

"What are you…" Ishaad asked.

"Shhhh!" the Figure hissed as a glowing dust began to rise from his amulet. More and more sand began to gather in a cloud just above his head and the cloud began to glow brighter.

"Your Highness, you are needed," he said.

Suddenly, a soft, female voice spoke from glowing cloud. "The Prince will escape."

"I know that," he replied calmly, "We must draw him in and eliminate his companions."

"His companions are who he fighting for; you must not eliminate them. For you to trap him, you must allow him to escape, but give him a reason to return."

* * *

Malachi and Farah simultaneously released arrows at the archers. Farah hit her mark, piercing an enemy through the heart as Malachi's target ducked just in time.

The Prince looked at his talisman: Three more uses of sand. He looked around again, beginning to feel a twinge of panic. "Kaileena!" he called again, his voice almost caught in his throat. Where had she gone?

"Go find her," Malachi said.

"I…" the Prince looked around at the situation. There was still a squad of infantry and at least ten archers on the balcony. Plus, there was a phalanx of guards at every exit. How was he to get out? He could use the Cyclone of Fate, which was the only power of sands strong enough to break the guards position, but he could not be sure that it would actually kill them and give him enough time to escape. Plus, how could he leave Malachi and Farah.

"Commander!" Malachi barked, "You're not leaving us behind! If you don't go you're leaving _her_ behind!"

The Prince hesitated for a second, but realized that Malachi was right. "Alright then," he nodded, "I'll come back for you two."

"I know, Prince."

"Farah!" the Prince shouted to the Indian princess. She looked over for a signal, which the Prince gave: Cover me!

Both Farah and Malachi strung three arrows to their bows, prepared to lay down covering fire.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Ready."

"GO!" he ordered.

Immediately, Malachi and Farah popped out from behind their cover and released six arrows at the same time. None would hit any specific mark, but at such close quarters, it would be enough to get the archers to put their heads down. With a few seconds hesitation, the Prince dove out in front of the phalanx at the door, knelt down, and activated the sands, charging them up into a powerful shockwave. Seconds later, he released the talisman, unleashing the wave upon the guards. A deafening blast shook the room and there was a blinding flash, followed by a horrible wind that slammed the guards into the wall hard enough to kill three of them.

The Prince looked around to make sure that Malachi and Farah were alright. Both had gone prone prior to the explosion and, though Farah had been lifted off the ground a bit, she was alright.

"I'll be back soon!" he promised. As he left, he debated finishing off to remaining five guards, but he knew time was of the essence. He had to find Kaileena!

* * *

"Why did you let him go?" Ishaad asked.

"There was no containing him, as I told you," his master growled. He then turned to the glowing cloud. "Now what, Your Highness?'

"Now," the feminine voice replied, "I move in my guards and capture the Hebrew and the Indian. The Prince will pursue his love, but he will soon learn, as I told him before, only one of us can cheat fate."


End file.
